


Elemental Tournament: Last one Standing Wins

by Monokumas_egg_collection



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Lego Ninjago
Genre: Crossover, Other, Sad with a Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27148385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monokumas_egg_collection/pseuds/Monokumas_egg_collection
Summary: The ninja are invited onto a ship to attend a tournament along with all of the other elemental masters know to exist in Ninjago. Everything goes rather smoothly until they get to their destination where they find that they're all really part of a sick killing game. With everyone on edge, it's uncertain who will snap next.
Relationships: Neuro/Griffin Turner
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. Prologue: Welcome to the Tournament

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains potentially triggering content including: Death, murder, gore, suicide, major character death, and emetophobia. Read at your own discretion. You have been warned.

The Ninja stepped onto the odd ship. They had found out about it with a note in the back alley behind their favorite noodle place, Mr. Chen’s noodle house. A challenge to meet and fight other elemental masters. They now had Sensei Garmadon with them, as well as Zane who had just barely made it through his battle with the Overlord. And with these two they felt confident. However, Lloyd’s father’s reaction to the man leading them on the ship made them uneasy.  
“Klouse.”  
“Oh, well hello there, Garmadon. Unfortunately, this ship is full.”  
“Let me on, I’m going in with my son.”  
“I don’t make the rules here.” Lloyd spun around to face his father.  
“Dad, you don’t have to go with us, okay? We’ll be fine.” Garmadon glanced at Klouse then back at Lloyd.  
“No, I don’t trust you with him.” His son frowned, a little upset with his stubbornness. He turned back around to address the man.  
“Please, he won’t do much. Can’t he come?” Klouse sighed but smirked.  
“Fine, I suppose it’s okay.” The partial family nodded, stepping on board. Klouse shouted to the captain who quickly sailed off.   
The Ninja stayed in a group along with their sensei. Lloyd sat beside Cole, Zane stared out at the ocean, Jay paced anxiously, and Kai stood with his eyebrows furrowed. It would have been nice to be with other elemental masters but none had even attempted to talk with them.   
Kai huffed, turning the corner away from the group and walking onto the deck. A large figure passed by him, bumping his shoulder. He stumbled slightly before snarling back at whoever it was.  
“Hey, watch it.” The figure turned around, revealing to Kai that he was a man and a large muscular one at that.  
“Watch it? Karloff doesn’t need to ‘watch it’.” His accent was extremely audible and it was most like slavic.   
“Hey, don’t act like you’re special! What even is your element?” The man roared with laughter.  
“I am Karloff, the master of metal!”   
“What are you gonna do with that, build me a car? Fire is way better.”  
“Fire? All it takes is some water to put you out.” He retorted, revealing his power. His fists grew into large metal weapons, his skin turning to a thin metal armor. Kai taunted with his own, summoning a flame in his hand. Both got into fighting stances, glaring at each other.  
Gramadon stepped in, walking between them.  
“Enough, we don’t need conflict. We don’t even know what we’re all getting into.”  
“We?” Karloff’s face twisted into still angry confusion. “Karloff knows what he’s getting into, competition and battle!”  
“It’s naive to believe that there’s no ulterior motive to summoning us all.”  
“He’s right.” Interjected Kai. “Who knows what this could be.”  
“Thank you, Kai.”  
“But if I’m going up against you, you’re going down!”  
“Karloff would like to see you try.” He murmured before walking away, ending the conflict. The other ninja jogged over to kai.  
“Did you see that guy?” Exclaimed Jay. “He looked crazy!”  
“Yeah, he’s the master of metal.”  
“Huh, that’s interesting. I wonder who else is here.” Commented Kai.  
“Well, I saw the master of speed, the master of invisibility, the master of sound.” Their sensei rattled off, recalling who he had seen so far.   
“Sounds like most of the elemental masters if not all.” Noticed zane, putting a hand under his chin.  
“Wow, and I’m one of them now.” Gasped Lloyd both in awe and fear. They others comforted him, reminding him that he was getting stronger and stronger each day. They told him how great of a leader he was going to be, especially with his dad supporting him. Plus, even if he lost against any of the other masters then it would just be a learning experience. Or so he thought.  
It wasn’t long before the ship landed, the elemental masters being allowed onto the island. They stared up at the gates ahead, impressed with the size and aesthetic of the entire location.  
Klouse had gotten off the ship and started leading them inside.   
“Competitors this way.” He grabbed Garmadon’s arm, stopping him. “And spectators that way.”  
He rolled his eyes and shouted to his son.  
“Go on ahead, I’ll see you, son!”  
“Bye, Dad!” Replied Lloyd, waving back. He turned back, walking with his friends and the other elemental masters. Little did any of them know, it would be the last time many of them would see Ninjago again.  
They entered into the building behind the gate, some of the masters mingling out of pure excitement. The ninja just spoke within their own circle but were mostly saying the same things about the sheer size and detail of the structure. Elation started to fill them as well, not knowing it was going to be this luxurious seeming.  
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed and locked. The large group went quiet except for several gasps. Cole ran up to the door and pulled on it.  
“It’s locked!” He announced. The other began whispering to each other out of fear and slowly rising anger. The air grew tense as people in the group searched for an exit or attempted to bust through the door.   
“It’s no use! It’s not budging!”Shouted Jay, banging roughly on the door. He backed away from it, exhausted from using up energy to bust through a door that clearly wouldn’t move.  
“Everyone, calm down! I’m sure this is happening for a reason.” Lloyd stated. If he was going to be a leader then he had to start acting like one.   
“Lloyd is right, We should remain calm until there’s a reason not to be.” Chimed in Zane, joining by the other’s side.  
“Yeah, we’re not here to just stand around. This is probably a waiting room of sorts.”  
“Ah, I have an idea, why don’t we all introduce ourselves to each other?” The others murmured to each other, over all agreeing to the idea. They organized themselves in a circle.  
“I’ll start.” Began the green ninja. “I’m Lloyd, the master of energy.”  
“And I’m Zane, the master of ice.” The robot introduced, looking to his right at Cole.  
“I’m Cole, the master of earth.” The introductions continued to the right.  
“I’m Jay, the master of lightning!”  
“Name’s Kai, the master of fire.” The rest of the elemental masters started introducing themselves, allowing the ninja to analyze them.  
“I am Neuro, the master of the mind.”He bowed slightly. He was dressed dark with makeup around his eyes. His hair was two toned but grayscale.  
“My name’s Shade, the master of well, shadow if that wasn’t obvious.” His skin was grey and his hair jet black. His clothing bore silver accents.  
“Name’s Camille, master of form. And none of you will get in my way of winning this competition.” She was blunt and honest with her motives. Her hair was a messy bright purple. Her clothing as well except lighter in color.  
“Karloff, master of metal!” The man was loud. He was muscular as observed before. He had black hair peeking out from under his hat, grey armor resting above his black clothing.  
“Call me Paleman, as you can tell, I’m the master of invisibility.” His voice was somewhat nasally. Despite having no visible features such as skin or hair, he was recognizable. He had an interesting style. He wore a red suit over a green sweater. This outfit also included a hat matching the suit and a pair of deep yellow glasses.  
“Tox, master of poison or toxicity.” Her hair was bright green and her cropped tank was near neon, a symbol of toxic waste printed on it. She seemed rather apathetic and moody like a teenager.  
“Name’s Griffin Turner, master of speed, baby!” He was confident to the point of cockiness. He had a white kimono wrap style outfit with read details on. It was reminiscent of a vintage racing suit. His hair was slicked back but poofed up, pushing the vintage vibes. The red tinted aviators he wore didn’t help either.  
“I’m Jacob, master of sound, man.” His hair was puffed up in an afro. He had a teal and orange suit on over a muted orange button down. Star sunglasses covered his eyes. Everything about him screamed 1970s.   
“I am Gravis. I am the master of gravity.” A red turban rested comfortably on his head. His outfit was light and flowy, matching his headpiece. His face rested seriously, never cracking a smile.   
“Well, I’m Skylor, the master of amber.” Kai immediately took a liking to her and it was obvious why. Her smile was king yet mischievous. She had beautiful red hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore an orange, ninja style outfit.  
“Bolobo, master of nature. Good to meet you.” His face seemed stern but it was obvious he had a king heart under that caveman exterior. He held a staff and wore a teal tank top with light green shorts. His hair was a long natural brown which faded into his long beard.   
“I’m Ash, the master of smoke.” He had spiky gray hair. He wore an extremely pale blue cotton set under light silver armor. His face was well chiseled, making it more memorable. He looked next to him at Lloyd, making the boy look around. He nodded.  
“Looks like that’s everyone.”  
“The next thing I think we should focus on is what’s going on.” Cole stated, rubbing his chin.  
“Uh, guys.” Jay said shakily. “I think we’re going to find out.”  
He pointed up at a silhouette on the balcony. The rest looked up as well in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. The shadow had two lumps on it’s head and it seemed rather short.   
Suddenly, a bear popped on behind the railing, clearly matching the outline. It was odd looking though, It was split in half vertically by color. One half was white and rather normal looking while the other was black and had a toothy malicious grin.  
“What is that?” Asked Paleman, disgust hinted in his voice. The bear responded.  
“I’m so glad you asked! I’m Monokuma, your island master!” His voice was excited and rather high pitched.  
“You? You’re just a teddy bear!” Kai insulted, though it didn’t have much effect.  
“I am not a teddy bear, I am Monokuma! Now, I’m sorry you all didn’t get a warm welcome to the island! I mean, you are going to be staying here a while, after all.” That sentence hit the group like a stack of bricks, all of the elemental masters unable to believe or even process what the bear had just said.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jay panicked.  
“So many good questions! As you’ve noticed, the doors are locked! You aren’t getting out easily or at all! There is a way off this island though.”  
“What is it? Is it part of the competition?” Zane questioned, cocking his head.  
“Competition? Oh right, that was a total lie! Well technically not a total lie.”  
“What do you mean? Just tell us how to get off this island already!” Snapped Tox, already getting tired of this.  
“I was just getting there. The only way to get off this island is… to kill someone!” All the elemental master’s shock returned and in a stronger wave. They started looking at each other, wondering who was even thinking about harming another.  
“You have to be joking!” Cried out Lloyd in disbelief.  
“Nope! Now, you each have an assigned room. There you will have your E-Handbook. It’ll have all the rules as well as information for your life on the island. Good luck!” And as fast as he appeared, he was gone.  
Lloyd was sweating with fear and disbelief, becoming dizzy with thought. Everyone else glared at others or stared at possible killers with fear.   
Kai gently grabbed the blonde’s shoulder.  
“Hey, let’s just find our rooms, okay? Maybe we’ll find a way out there.” The younger nodded. The other ninja realized and followed, going to their separate rooms.


	2. Play me Some Light Jazz: Daily Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The official chapter 1!

When Lloyd entered, he was surprised with how luxurious it was. He expected nothing but basic living conditions but it was actually rather comfortable. He looked around and spotted the aforementioned electric handbook on his bed. He picked it up and looked at it’s screen. It was a tablet-like device except with less functions than the average touch screen device you could get these days. He took a peek, deciding to take this to the other ninja.   
When he left the room, he saw the other gathering in a small circle. He quickly joined in.  
“I can read out the rules.” Offered Zane.  
“Go for it.” Responded Cole. The robot cleared his throat.  
“Rule one, participants must stay within the walls of the building, leaving is prohibited. Rule two, “Nighttime” starts at ten pm and ends at seven am. Food will night be served at this time and some areas will not be usable. Rule three, sleeping any but the rooms and hallways near them is prohibited. You will be punished accordingly depending on where you sleep outside of the area. Rule four, violence against Island Master Monokuma is strictly prohibited. Destruction of cameras is as well. Rule five, anyone who kills a fellow participant will become “blackened” and win, unless discovered. Rule six, more rules can be added if necessary. And an additional message, feel free to explore the building at your own discretion.”  
“Not many strict rules, huh?” Pointed out Lloyd.  
“No, but we can’t kick that stupid bear into the sun.” Growled Kai.  
“So anyone who kills and isn’t discovered wins the competition?” Asked Jay.  
“But Monokuma said that it wasn’t really a competition.” Corrected Zane.   
“Seriously you two, do you really think anyone would really kill to win the stupid competition?” Cole was losing his brain cells attempting to even imagine it.   
“You never know!” Shouted Kai.  
“Oh drop it already! That metal dude didn’t even do anything to you!”  
“Enough!” Intervened Lloyd. “We can’t fight. We have to stick together through this, especially with the possibility of a killer.”  
“Lloyd is correct. We need to be careful even if it’s unlikely.” Zane tried to reason as well.  
“Yeah, I say we befriend everyone! Nobody kills a friend, right?” Jay gulped, paranoid.  
“You have a point, Jay. Maybe if we’re more friendly and trusting of each other, nobody will get hurt!” Lloyd smiled as he finished off the sentence.   
“Monokuma said meals were provided, we can try to interact during breakfast.” Zane said, making yet another good point.  
“It is getting late. It’s nearing that curfew he set.” Cole looked up at a clock while scratching the back of his neck.   
“So it’s settled, we go to bed and make friends tomorrow.” The others agreed with that statement.  
It wasn’t long before they parted ways. They wished each other a good night as they entered they’re separate rooms. As he entered though, Lloyd was apprehensive. A night alone? He was away from his father, his sensei, and he wasn’t even in the same room as the other boys. It made him uncomfortable but he knew he had no other choice. He could always ask to sleep in someone’s room but he was too old for it now.  
He sighed with a shiver and wrapped his arms around him in a nervous hug. He walked over to his completely fenced off balcony. The railings were all chainlink, going all the way up to the overhang above. Clearly, Monokuma was trying to keep his subjects inside, preventing escaping. Lloyd huffed and just for the hell of it, attempted to spinjitzu his way out. No luck, he fell back onto the ground. They were reinforced and there was no way to break through which he should have expected.  
The boy decided to go back inside, feeling slightly defeated. He quietly turned off the lights and shuffled into bed, flicking off his lights. He turned on to his right side and looked at the digital clock beside him. It read ten o’clock precisely.   
His television turned on, causing him to sit up. It was only a video message from Monokuma about how it was nighttime as well as the rules of this time period. Lloyd growled and went up to the TV, turning down the volume significantly. He crawled back into the sheets and covered his ears until the announcement turned off, leaving the room near black once again.   
The lone ninja woke up the next morning. He had slept through the whole night but despite the length of his rest, he was drained and out of it. He looked down, realizing what was happening again. The TV suddenly turned on again, just as it did last night. This time it was a morning message. Lloyd walked up to the screen to hear the message since he had turned down the audio so much. It was simply just a video to wake up the participants.  
Lloyd stretched and left the room, looking a bit disheveled. He noticed the figures of the others making their way to what he could only assume was the dining hall. He trailed behind, already drained on the first real day.  
The others had already started eating once they got there. At least the bear hadn’t lied, there was food provided and from the other’s reactions, good food. He picked up his own plate out of hunger and curiosity. He went to sit with his friends but looked up and saw them scattered, putting their plan in place to gain allies.   
Lloyd saw the others in a group, standing around something or someone. He grabbed a plate of food and strolled over to greet his closer friends. They were laughing and seemingly having a great time. Kai saw him.  
“Hey, Lloyd! You remember Gravis from yesterday, right?”   
“Yeah, of course!”  
“He’s a total riot!” The blonde was curious now. He was allowed into their circle. He looked over at their new friend. His face was stone but the ninja were laughing joyously. The youngest was confused but didn’t want to ask what was so funny.  
“Wow, Gravis, you’re way funnier than I thought you’d be.” Jay wheezed, wiping a tear of laughter away.  
“I’m glad you find me so humorous. Perhaps we can become friends.” He replied in his cold, deep voice. He was floating above the ground in a sitting position. It made Lloyd double take but it wasn’t all too shocking considering that the man was the master of gravity. However, this person made him think. He pulled Kai to the side, being the ninja he put his most trust in.  
“What’s up?” Asked Kai, keeping his voice low.  
“I don’t know about this.” Lloyd whispered back.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Gravis, I know this is going against what we suggested yesterday but what if he’s just making friends with us to gain our trust.”  
“Lloyd, come on, we all like him. None of us see anything wrong with him.”  
“I’m not one to say this but you really can’t trust anyone.”  
“I know, I know but I think it’s still best to keep making friends.”  
“I guess.”  
“Listen, if it makes you feel better, we’ll keep an eye on him, okay?”  
“Alright.” Agreed the blonde, not quite satisfied.  
“Great.” Kai grinned, finishing off their conversation. Lloyd remained suspicious but put his feelings to the side for his best friends who were clearly enjoying time with their new pal.   
To his surprise, Gravis’ monotone bluntness actually made his jokes and humor hit much harder, even causing the paranoid and tired boy to laugh. It was nice to see everyone laugh after yesterday was so tense with all of this being thrown onto the entire group.  
The five spent the rest of the day hanging out, Gravis hopping in and out every once in a while, making six. They had hung out until near nighttime.  
They all still laughed and joked, all of them starting to calm down and catch their breaths.  
“Wow, that was a day!” Commented Cole massaging his now sore facial muscles.  
“Yeah, I feel so much better after last night.”  
“I’m happy I can please you.” Stated their new friend.  
“And today wore me out but in a good way.” Added Kai, stretching.  
“Yeah, I’m tired.” Lloyd joined.  
“Then I say we go to sleep.” Cole recommended. The others agreed. They wished Gravis a safe night as he floated off. The group of five entered their room as the nighttime announcement turned on before bed just as it had yesterday.  
Lloyd could care less about the TV tonight, though. Today had been great and he knew that tonight would be as well. He felt joyous and loved by his friends but something poked at him. He knew that something wasn’t right. He could feel that something was brewing. All he could do, however, was ignore it. Nothing would happen anyways, right?  
The next morning began like the last, Lloyd, however, felt more energized this time. Him and the other boys met up with their new buddy and started talking with him again while they ate breakfast. All the new interaction took the boys out of their short depression and they had Gravis to thank for a large part of that.   
As the time passed with the man, Lloyd began to see more and more how the group had first found him so funny when they had just started to talk. He was able to understand the reserved man more and more each time they spoke and it brought the blonde delight.  
And just like yesterday, Gravis was in and out of the conversation. However, today, he was more out than in. The other males didn’t think it was odd though, seeing his similar behavior yesterday. Plus, they were understanding when it came to needing space.  
Time flew since the boys were having fun despite being trapped. They had been together all day and that didn’t change at dinner. When they entered the dining hall, the scent of the broth of lovely noodles filled their noses.  
“Seems like noodles tonight.” Pointed out Cole, smiling.  
“Wow, I’ve been kind of craving them since we went to Chens’!” Admitted Jay. The rest agreed with hungry but happy mumbles.   
All five grabbed their servings, scarfing them down. Some were more polite than others. Jay got many looks from the other ninja, to say the least.   
Lloyd looked around, twisting his neck left then right, scanning the room.  
“Hey, where’s Gravis?” The others heard him and began looking around themselves. There was no sign of him. Normally, they would brush it off as needing space but now that they thought about it, he hadn’t spoken with them for hours now.  
“Hey, has anyone seen Gravis?” Asked Cole, addressing the whole group. The rest looked around and then realized that none of them had seen him either.  
“He could be in his room!” Suggested Skylor.  
“Good point.” Replied Kai, quickly. He clearly wasn’t the best at hiding his attraction to her, attempting to make her like him back. Lloyd couldn't argue with the idea, though.  
“Alright, I’m going.” He announced. The rest of the ninja agreed to go with him while the rest would stay back. The blonde boy led them out of the dining hall, making his way to the rooms.  
It wasn’t long before they arrived, going specifically to Gravis’ room. Zane was the one who went up to the door and gently knocked.  
“Gravis, are you okay?” He inquired. No answer followed. The robot knocked again, perhaps not being heard the first time. “We’re worried about you. Open up please.”  
“Maybe he’s asleep.” Suggested Jay. Lloyd stepped forward and grabbed the doorknob and to his surprise, it was unlocked and he stated so.  
“Hey, it’s unlocked.” He opened it as Zane stepped away from it. The youngest entered first, looking around. Everything was visible but eerie as the lights were dim in the room. He spotted something behind the bed.”Hey, what’s that.”  
Zane analyzed it with his blue eyes, being programmed to scan and and inspect.  
“That seems to be a liquid.” He answered as the other boy started slowly creeping around the bed.  
It wasn’t long before he spotted it, going pale. His stomach dropped and he nearly puked out of pure shock. The other boys noticed and ran to his side, seeing it as well.  
The bleeding body of Gravis laid in front of them, completely unmoving. Cole ran to him and grabbed his wrist.  
“No pulse! He’s cold too.” He noticed, stress filling his body. It had seemed that Zane was correct. He had spotted a liquid on the bedpost, the blood of Gravis splattered on it.


	3. Play me Some Light Jazz: Deadly Life

The TV flicked on, making all five of the living jump. It was another Monokuma video. He announced cheerfully.  
“A body has been discovered! Now, after a certain amount of time, which you may use as you like, the group trial will begin!” What scared them more is the bear appearing in front of them, causing them to shout in surprise.  
“What was that announcement?” Shouted Kai, confused and angry.  
“The boy discovery announcement!” He started explaining. “When three or more people discover a body, the announcement will play!”  
“And what about the trial you mentioned?” Zane questioned.  
“Puhuhu.” He laughed. “You will have time to investigate and gather evidence! The trial is where you will find the ‘blackened’ and have them leave!”  
“What does leave mean? They get to just walk out?” Lloyd added out of confusion.  
“Many good questions as normal! No! They will die!” The others went pale.  
“What?”  
“Yep! But if you can’t find the killer, then the rest of you will die and they will get to walk free. Oh, thank you for reminding me, I should add onto the rules!” And with that, he disappeared. All of their handbooks lit up with notifications. Lloyd took his device out to use as the example. He read out the new rules.   
“Rule seven, once a murder takes place, a group trial will take place shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving competitors. Rule eight, if the guilty party is exposed during the group trial, they alone will be executed. Rule nine, if the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will leave, and all remaining competitors will be executed.” As he finished, the others came rushing up to the room.  
“What happened?” Asked Tox, who was at the front of the group.  
“How did you know something happened here?” Asked Kai in response.  
“We saw the body discovery announcement. The only place a body could have been discovered is here since you guys are the only ones who left. Right after it played Monokuma popped up and explained then all our handbooks went off.” That timeline made no sense and Lloyd knew it but he had no time to question it. He looked back down at his tablet.  
“Oh yeah, there were two notifications. What’s this one?” He clicked on it. Immediately the bear’s voice flooded through the speakers.  
“It’s the Monokuma file!” Lloyd sighed at the unintentional jumpscare and looked at the instructions on screen.  
“Use the Monkuma file to gather evidence.”  
“Wow, so this is like a real trial.” Shade thought out loud.  
“I guess.” He tapped his chin in contemplation. “I have an idea. Since we don’t know who the killer is, then we can’t trust each other. I say we split up and explore in partners.”  
“That’s a good idea, Lloyd.” Complimented Cole, continuing off his idea and adding on. “We need a pair to guard the room.”  
“Karloff will guard the room.” The metal man offered.  
“Oh no, I don’t trust you with that task, buddy!” Hissed Kai. Bolobo walked up to the other muscular man.  
“I’ll team up with him and help guard, don’t worry.” Kai huffed at that but knew that it was best. Everyone else slowly teamed up and left, going on their own and leaving the room.   
Lloyd grabbed Kai’s wrist, claiming him as his partner this time. Kai of course didn’t mind. They were the first to be able to inspect the room and the corpse.  
“Well, where do we start?” Asked the fire master.  
“I want you to look for a possible murder weapon. I… I wanna look at the body.” He knew it sounded weird and he didn’t actually want to look but he knew he could analyze the body and knew he would end up doing a better job than Kai. Kai agreed to his request, starting by checking the bathroom.  
The blonde shakily approached the body. He couldn’t believe what was happening but he knew he had to confront the bloody truth. His hand reached the cold wrist of the body, sending a chill down his spine. He looked the dead man up and down.  
The idea of touching a corpse was horrifying but the actual action wasn’t as bad as thought. When he looked, he realized how peaceful he looked despite being covered in his own blood. It sent a wave of sympathy through Lloyd and he knew he had to keep exploring to find the truth.   
He looked at the wound. He carefully wiped as much blood away as possible, getting a look at it. Bruised with broken skin around the spot of the hit. This was caused by blunt force, there was no way a blade could have it hit him.  
His eyes then moved to something odd colored in his hand. It took the boy a moment to get it out due to rigor-mortis setting in on the figures, but he got it. A piece of dull orange fabric laid in his hand. He put it down and started taking notes on what he had discovered so far.   
Kai came out of the bathroom.   
“I didn’t find anything, how about you?”  
“Just a bit so far.” Replied the other.  
“I wanna see if we can check out anyone else’s rooms.”  
“Why would you want to do that?”  
“I want to see if anyone has evidence.”  
“But someone could have evidence in a locked room.”  
“Is it really not worth it to check?”  
“I guess it is.”  
“Then let’s go, other groups want to check out this room anyways.”  
“Right, let’s go.” They nodded to each other and left, quietly thanking the temporary guards as they started down the hall. Lloyd would check every room for a lock until he would come across one that was open. The process would continue after each exploration.  
The first door that Lloyd found open was Karloff. He entered and like the other’s rooms, it was themed to fit his style. The blonde explored the space, searching for evidence. He looked but saw nothing until he got to the bathroom. He gasped softly at what he saw in the sink. A decent size splatter of blood. He took note of the mess but looked on the ground, on the lookout for more of the bodily fluid. To his confusion, there wasn’t a trail. He left it for now, not telling Kai and making him accuse the man right away. The other boy had no idea about the bathroom so he assumed that nothing was found and they went on.  
The next door that was open was Skylor’s. Kai smiled as they reached her room. Again, his attraction couldn’t be more obvious. Both boys entered this time, looking around. The fire master found something on the bed, making a noise of interest to catch the other’s attention.  
“Look, I found a note.” He stated after. Lloyd came to his side to read it.  
“Meet me later, Gravis” He read aloud as he read, noting random peace signs on the scrap of paper. This was definitely a red flag but nothing else was found. Another thing to note. They left quickly, able to brush it off for now, especially Kai.  
The last open room they checked out was Jacob’s room. They entered and began searching just like the others.   
Suddenly, Lloyd tripped over something with a surprised yelp. He looked back, seeing that he tripped over the musician’s guitar. He sat up and looked at it.  
“Are you okay?” Asked the blonde’s partner.  
“Yeah I’m fine. He really has to be more careful with where he puts that.” Lloyd pulled it closer as he looked at it. He got a singular whiff and started coughing. “Oh god!”  
“What’s up?” He grabbed it and sniffed it as well, immediately turning his head and scrunching his nose. “Woah, seriously! Did he soak this thing in bleach?”  
While to Kai it was just weird and meant nothing really, Lloyd noted it. They continued looking around, then moving to the bathroom.  
“Yikes, this smells too!” The younger exclaimed, taking more notes. He started pondering. “Actually, this makes me think. I want to check the community trash for the rooms.  
“Alright, whatever you want.” The other agreed. They made their way and right beside the large dumpster was a half empty bottle of bleach just like Lloyd thought there was. Beside it, he found an orange scarf with bleach stains on it. Lloyd wrote down both as suspicious items.  
It wasn’t long before another announcement came on, of course featuring nobody but Monokuma like all his other announcements.  
“Time’s up! It’s time for the group trial! Come down to the lobby and you will be instructed from there.” The TV turned off. Lloyd nodded to Kai and they rushed to the lobby.  
The others all arrived quickly, talking and both getting excited and nervous. Monomuka appeared before them, standing on the podium that he had used for the introduction a couple days ago.   
“Everyone’s here as expected, good job! Now does everybody see the design on the floor?” The entire group looked at the design under the feet. “Stand in the middle, on the purple.”  
All of the elemental masters did as requested and stood on the purple circle in the middle. The bear pressed a button behind the podium and slowly started moving downward. The middle had been a secret elevator the whole time.  
Everyone was silent as they slowly went into the earth, underground. Everyone seemed sullen but determined. It was an odd energy and it made Lloyd feel uncomfortable.   
Soon, there was a ding. They were let out of the elevator into an underground trial room. There were seventeen podiums in a circle and an elevated chair behind them to watch over.  
“Welcome!” Boomed Monokuma excitedly. “Now everyone get to your spots so we can get started! They’re all labeled.”  
Everyone glanced at each other before going off to their spots in the circle. There was only one spot taken. In the place of the deceased Gravis, there was a photo instead with an X shaped splatter over.  
“Good, everyone’s in place!” Continued the bear, appearing on the chair behind the podiums. “Welcome to your first group trial! As you all should know it is your duty to find the ‘blackened’ or else you all die! Any questions before we begin?”  
“What’s that?” Asked Jay, pointing to the portrait.  
“Ah, the death portrait! Unfortunately, Gravis couldn’t be here due to someone in the room today so the picture takes his place. Just ignore it for now.” He laughed softly.  
“I have one, how do we even start?” Asked Shade.  
“Well, that’s up to you. You should be the ones to decide what to talk about first. After all, I know what happened but you don’t.” Lloyd realized he was talking about the cameras. So he knew what happened but was expecting them to uncover it themselves. And from what Lloyd could tell, it was just for his own entertainment.  
“I want to talk about the weapon first.” Stated Kai, drawing attention to himself.  
“Weapon it is!” And with that, the conversation quickly heated up.  
“I think it was done with a knife.” Said Ash. “The blood on the head makes sense.”  
“But what about the bruising?” Asked Neuro, challenging his opinion.  
“Cuts can bruise!”  
“But why would the culprit just slice the head? Why not just stab or go for the throat? It doesn’t even make sense.” Replied Cole.   
“Plus, it was clear Gravis wasn’t moved from where he died. If that were the case, then there would be marks to show for it.” Added Zane, inputting his logic. Lloyd thought before speaking.  
“Zane is onto something. That’s why I think Gravis was killed with blunt force.”  
“Even though that makes the most sense, what is your proof?” Another good question from Neuro.  
“There was only broken skin and bleeding around one spot which was indented. A clear singular hit. If it didn’t kill him instantly then he could have easily bled to death while knocked out.”  
“I’m impressed with how observant you are, Lloyd.”  
“Then the question is now, what was the thing that killed him?” Inquired Paleman, moving onto a new question in the same category of weapons.  
“I actually have a theory on that.” Kai answered, his tone growing low.  
“Well, spill it!” Jay pushed.  
“We all know one person in particular here has a constant weapon on them. It’s blunt and could easily deliver a deadly blow. I knew not to trust him.” He paused before bursting and pointing at the master of metal. “Karloff!”  
There were a few gasps as all eyes fell on him. Lloyd wanted to scold Kai for saying such things about Karloff again but he had a point this time.  
“Karloff? Karloff would never!” The metal man said with offended shock.  
“Actually, I want to build off that theory.” Lloyd interjected.  
“It’s obvious he did it!” Kai accused again.   
“Let’s talk about what we found in his sink.”  
“Karloff’s sink?” The accused tilted his head.  
“Yes. Your room was open so we took the chance to inspect. Sorry, for that though.” He added on at the end, feeling a bit bad. “Anyways, Karloff, your sink had blood in it.”  
“Oh.”  
“See, he did it!” Continued Kai. Lloyd ignored him and continued.   
“However, the odd thing was. It was only in the sink. There was no blood around or on the floor. Care to explain?” Karloff signed in response before admitting to what happened.   
“Karloff had a nose bleed. Karloff contained it in the sink and managed to stop it. It’s kind of embarrassing for the master of metal to have a puny nose bleed.”  
“Like I’d believe that!” Growled Kai, becoming accusatory again.  
“Actually, there is something we could do to test. It could be a long shot though.” Zane suggested, entering the conversation.  
“Go for it.” Replied Lloyd. Zane left his spot and walked over to Karloff.  
“Monokuma, do you happen to have a Q-tip?”  
“A Q-tip?” The bear tilted his head. “Odd request but I do.”  
He handed the requested item over. Zane thanked him before proceeding to ask Karloff to activate his element, making his hand grow. He swabbed the metal hands, inspecting the cotton tip after.  
“Not washed.” The robot suddenly stated.   
“What?” Lloyd was confused.  
“Nevermind, I’ll come back to that in a second. Zoom in on that so everyone can see.” A large image of the dirty cotton appeared, zooming in on the tip. Zane looked at the image, analyzing it. “I can identify dirt, crumbs of several foods, and small flakes of blood. However, it would take too long to analyze whose blood it is scientifically.”  
“Is that where what you said comes in?”  
“Exactly. If Karloff were the culprit, then wouldn’t he have washed his metal hands so there wouldn’t be evidence.”  
“Maybe he didn’t think of that.” Hissed Kai, not giving up.  
“Well, Kai, it’s the only evidence we have right now. Maybe we should bring in more.” The blonde retorted, growing a bit tired with his stubbornness. “Let’s talk about what we found in Skylor’s room next.”  
“In my room?” The girl asked.   
“Yes, but don’t worry yet.” He addressed her before everyone else. “In Skylor’s room there was a note from Gravis saying to meet her.”  
“Oh, yeah, we’ve been talking off and on. It was before the body was found.”  
“How long before, though?” Zane hopped in with a question.  
“I’d say a few hours. It was slid under my door.”  
“Now, before we blame Skylor, I’d like to mention that nothing else was found. However, there was something odd with the note but I want to move onto the last suspect before I talk about that.”  
“And who would that be?” Tox joined into the conversation with that question.  
“Jacob.”  
“Me?” The man in question asked.  
“Yes, your room was the oddest of them all. When I came in, I tripped on your guitar. I went to prop it back up and got a whiff and it smelled strongly of bleach.”  
“Oh yeah, that’s how I clean my guitar.”  
“Which would also explain the bleach smell in the sink too, right?”  
“Yeah, man.”  
“What about those things you wanted to come back to. When are we even coming back to those?” Hissed Chamille.  
“Now, actually.” Replied the blonde boy, a little agitated with her attitude. “That’s why I wanted to bring up what I found on Gravis’ body.”  
Lloyd brought the photo to the forefront.   
“A piece of orange fabric.”  
“There’s more than one person here with orange clothing.” Pointed out Cole.  
“Then let’s talk about the note again.” He exchanged photos, showing the note. “Anyone notice anything odd with the note?”  
“I think you’re talking about the peace signs but what’s so odd about that?” Griffin finally spoke, giving Lloyd a response he was waiting for.  
“Exactly. What’s odd is, peace signs don’t make sense. You didn’t have to be as close as my friends and I got with him to know that they weren’t a symbol of his. However, not to point fingers, but I think I know who does use peace signs, though.”  
“Oh, don’t you accuse me, boy. How thick is your skull?” Jacob shouted.  
“So you admit they’re a symbol of yours.” The man stuttered for a second before bursting again.  
“So what if they are? That doesn’t mean I touched that note!”  
“Then why don’t we compare it to Gravis’? I’m sure he at least wrote one thing down before he died.”  
“So now you think I forged the note?”  
“To me, It makes sense.”  
“So? What if the killer forced me to? What if Gravis asked me to write the note?”  
“You denied it earlier, I don’t think that second one is the case and I don’t think it’s the second either.” Jacob suddenly smirked, a grun spreading across his face. He laughed. He chuckled in a way that made the rest of the room feel uncomfortable and slightly unsafe.   
“Come on, man. Quit pulling my leg! I’m blind! Obviously, I can’t be the killer!” He spat out with a humongous smile. Lloyd jumped back a little with a nearly silent gasp. Zane, however, came to the rescue.  
“Actually I have a theory. I want to see if it’s correct. Who has been hanging out with Jacob?” Silence fell as everyone looked around the room at each other before Ash made a small throat clearing noise. “Do you have something to say?”  
“Sorry, but I don’t want us all to die.” He whispered before looking at Zane. “I’ve been hanging out with Jacob.”  
“How was he able to find you?”  
“He would use his guitar to simulate echo-location. It was actually really cool. He also explained to me that he wasn’t fully blind. He really can’t see but he can identify shapes and colors.”  
“Interesting.” Zane said, then looking at Jacob. He was stunned silent at Ash’s betrayal, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. His blind eyes showing from behind his slipping sunglasses.  
“Now, Jacob, if you’re so innocent then why don’t you take off your jacket and show us your shirt. I just want to make sure that shred of fabric doesn’t belong to you. Or maybe, you would like to explain the half empty bleach next to the dumpster for the rooms.” Lloyd joined back in, his voice low and intense.  
“T-There’s no way.” The main suspect stuttered.  
“I think we can wrap this up.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before beginning. He was ready to give a final explanation, exposing everything that happened. “Gravis left us to go do things on his own. Some time after this, the killer entered, being friendly with Gravis. The killer played the other person a song while approaching. They used their instrument as a weapon but weren’t able to lay a blow on the victim. Gravis ended up with a hand full of fabric before being brutally killed with a single blow. The killer knew they didn’t have much time to clean up the scene so they left the body and ran to clean up anything that could be traced back to them. They quickly washed off the weapon with bleach before dropping the rest off by the dumpster. They forged a note and slid it under Skylor’s door, hoping it would be discovered and make her seem more guilty than she was. Also during this time, Karloff gets a nose bleed which unfortunately made him a suspect but an easily disproved one. All the real evidence leads back to one man, though. One musician. The killer… is Jacob!”  
Gasps filled the room. All went silent, including the accused. He started panting, breathing heavily with fear filled rage.  
“I am not the killer! How dull are you, man?”  
“Well, I think it’s time to vote for who everyone thinks is the killer.” Monokuma said, completely ignoring his outburst. “Vote for who you think is the ‘blackened’ in front of you and the participant will be revealed.  
A screen of options appeared in front of everyone, allowing all of the competitors to pick who they thought the murderer was. All screens disappeared before a large TV screen flicked on, a slot machine with the faces of all of the elemental masters spinning until three of the same face lined up. Jacob’s face. Confetti fell across the screen before it turned off again. All eyes fell on the so-called ‘winner’.  
“Why, Jacob?” Ash seemed genuinely hurt as that question left his mouth.  
“I-I’m so sorry. I’m sorry to everyone. I did it because I wanted to get out. I’m blind, I’m a musician, I’m an elemental master. I have an impact. I should have thought it through more.”  
“How sad.” Monokuma commented with mock sorrow. “Any last words, Jacob?”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Short and sweet, I like it! Now, let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s punishment time!” He shrieked with delight, pulling out a button and a gavel, smashing the device with the small hammer. Game over. Jacob Pevsner has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
Jacob shook, hugging onto himself in fear as stressed sweat rolled down his temple. A collar on a set of metallic arms grabbed onto his neck, dragging him away behind the curtains to his themed death.  
The musical was on stage, a guitar accompanying him as if it were a normal concert. He attempted to navigate using the instrument, only to be immediately drowned out by speakers on either side. He quickly covered his ears at the loud noise. The noise only increases though, causing the man to fall to his knees. Suddenly they stop out of nowhere. Jacob looked left and right but didn’t look in the one direction which could have stalled his doom, up. A piano fell on him, completely crushing him, essentially killing him instantly.   
The rest of the participants stared at the TV screen in horror as his blood pooled out on live video. Monokuma had said the ‘blackened’ would be executed but they didn’t expect him to actually do it. At least, they didn’t expect something so cruel and extravagant.  
“Oh my god.” Whimpered Jay, barely audible.  
“I didn’t actually think that he would actually-” Cole went pale.  
“Well, that’s the end of the trial. Feel free to continue going about your business.” Monokuma said right before disappearing again, allowing the now smaller crowd to leave.  
Lloyd shakily trudged to his room, staring at the ground. He had experienced scarring things even as a child but nothing as gory and unbelievable as this. It felt unreal. He opened his room, not looking up for a single second. His hands were cold and clammy with an unexplainable feeling of complete negativity.  
The boy shut the door behind him, internally praying that this was a dream. He was begging that this was nothing but a crazy dream and that he would wake up. Even if it were on the ship to the real competition, he would take that. Anything but this sick tournament of death. His thoughts were cut off by the TV making him jump with the ‘nighttime’ announcement despite the volume being low. He hissed softly at the TV for it’s rude jumpscare before jumping into bed, filled with intense emotions. He was starting to cry, while holding back a scream, curled up in the fetal position.   
He ended up falling asleep despite having such intense feelings, most likely passing out due to the stress eating up all of his remaining energy.


	4. Hidden in the Dying Embers: Daily Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this chapter looked screwed up, it was. I believe I fixed it. My apologies.

Lloyd woke up the next morning, feeling tired despite getting all the sleep he could, even sleeping through the morning announcement. This was similar to the first night on the island but somehow worse. He still managed to get himself out of bed, though. He swung his legs over the side and hopped down, walking slowly to the door and twisting the knob, opening it weakly.  


He was the last to the dining hall, seeing everyone else sitting in small groups, nearly silent except for a whispered conversation or two between some of the others. Lloyd spotted his group of the ninja, walking over and sitting with them.   
He could quickly tell that they weren’t doing well either. Jay stared at his food, refusing to touch it most of the time. Zane had his eyes closed, just thinking while eating. Cole stared off into the distance, playing with his food while not looking. Kai kept stirring his food, eating little of it. Lloyd himself wasn’t hungry.  
“He’s really gone.” Whispered Jay, clearly still going through the events of last night in his mind.  
“I know, I didn’t expect it either.” Admitted Kai, looking up from his food.  
“I wish there was a way to prevent this.” Sighed Lloyd.  
“We all do.” Replied Cole.   
None of them paid attention as a figure walked up to their table, holding onto their food. They snuck into a more open area and gently set down their bowl. The boys looked over to see Ash.  
“Sorry, may I sit here? I lost my friend yesterday as you know and I know you lost one too.” He said, looking around. He expected judgement from the group but instead got tired greetings and welcomes.  
“I am sorry for your loss.” Zane apologized.  
“I should be apologizing to you. I should have tried to find any signs.”  
“You didn’t know.” Added Kai.  
“It was my job to be his friend. I feel like less of a friend and less of a good person over all for this.”  
“Ash, you aren’t dumb. If you could have prevented it then you would have.” Lloyd attempted to comfort him  
“I suppose. I tried to care for him but I guess it was impossible.”  
“You tried.”  
“I feel like I betrayed him.”  
“If you didn’t speak up at the trial then we could have all died. In the end, it’s what he wanted.”  
“I just can’t believe it.”  
“Don’t worry, we can’t either.”  
They kept the conversation going until breakfast ended. They went their separate ways after that, Lloyd following his close friends.  
“I feel so bad for him.” Sympathized Jay.  
“Yeah, we’d look so bad if we didn’t befriend him.” Kai said, realizing how it sounded. “Not that he’s a bad guy, though.”  
“He needs some comfort right now and trusts enough to try to get it from us.” Added in Zane, his logic as usual.  
“We should keep being friendly anyways.” Lloyd stated. They continued the conversation quietly, staying together in their group. They went about their entire day like this up until dinner where they met their new friend again. He was already sitting at a table. He looked up and waved to them. The other boys noticed and gratefully sat with him with their plates filled with their dumpling dinner.   
“Hey.” Greeted Kai as he plopped down with the others.  
“Hello, was your day okay?” He asked.  
“It was fine for us.” Responded Cole honestly. He took a bite of his food. “How about you?”  
“It was alright. My mind’s still filled.” Ash answered just as truthfully.  
“Hey, tomorrow will be better!” Lloyd encouraged.   
“I hope so.”   
“Hey, I’m always surprised with how good this food is.” Jay commented, changing the subject.  
“Yeah, it has a familiar feel.” Cole agreed. They quietly all scarfed down their dinner, having a pleasant conversation afterwards.  
They soon went their separate ways again, the ninja getting back into their group before bedtime rolled around. They checked the time and went their own ways, wishing each other a good night.   
Lloyd entered his room like normal, it becoming routine now. The TV turned on as it did nightly, now even phasing the blonde boy anymore. He crawled into bed and thought for a few moments, letting the events of the day run through his mind before he managed to sleep soundly.  
The next few days continued on like normal, the ninja still meeting up with their new friend at meals and hanging out. They were becoming more and more cheerful, still mourning but getting over it quickly with the support of each other. The joy of the whole group was starting to give Lloyd some hope. That was until the next day.  
The youngest ninja woke up like normal, the morning announcement quickly following. He followed his friends to breakfast. He then ate and spoke with his friend.  
Breakfast ended but there was an interruption. The screen in the dining hall came on, attracting the attention of the entire group. It was another Monokuma video.  
“This is a competition announcement. Come to the lobby ASAP! Don’t worry, I have a surprise for you.” The last words were said in a singsong tone. The elemental masters looked at each other, murmuring before collectively agreeing to go to the lobby to inspect the mysterious surprise mentioned in the announcement.   
They quickly made it since they all moved in one group. Everyone talked to each other out of both concern and curiosity. They stopped when the controlling bear appeared on his balcony.  
“Ah, you all came!” He clapped happily with his plush paws. “Great. Now we need to have a talk.”  
“About what?” Asked Tox, crossing her arms.  
“Well, you’re all annoying me! No killing has happened in the past few days!”  
“We’re not going to keep killing for your pleasure.” Hissed Neuro.  
“Well, that’s why you’re here! I’m giving you a motive. It’s a juicy one about secrets.” He smirked with his permanently installed smile. He continued. “Yep, I have your deepest secrets right here.”  
A couple gasps and some confused and angry mumbles came from the small crowd.   
“Now, it would be boring if I just handed them back to you! So I decided to do this differently!” He tossed the small sheets of paper the supposed secrets were on. “You’re going to read each others!”  
Everyone grabbed one, immediately taking a peek at their papers.  
“Feel free to trade and such but I doubt that’ll do much.” He sneered before leaving again, letting them just read.  
Lloyd looked down at his paper. It was Kai’s. He read it inaudibly to himself.  
“Kai is jealous of his sister Nya. He thinks she’s better than him.” He looked over at the other teen. He was reading his own paper, an appalled look plastered on his face. Lloyd took a deep breath before approaching him. “Hey, Kai. I got yours.”  
A red blush appeared on the other’s face. He snatched it.  
“Oh, thank you! I’m not happy this is out there now but at least you're the one who got mine.  
“Hey, by the way, I wanted to tell you something.”  
“What is it?”  
“You’re amazing. Don’t drag yourself down.”  
“Kind of out of the blue but thanks, dude.”  
“You’re welcome.” He smiled before walking off, deciding to just walk around and avoid everyone else. He was not only afraid of someone having his own secret but also possible tension between the other ninja due to the motive Monokuma had given.   
He decided to avoid everyone during lunch and eat alone. But when dinner rolled around, he decided to go to the dining hall just so he could at least socialize with Ash.   
He was the last one there. He looked up, afraid of what he would see at the table. When he looked upon the area, he was surprised to see the entire group still sitting with each other, still having nice conversations. He smiled as his eyes met Kai’s face. The master of fire waved to him, motioning him to join. Lloyd grabbed dinner and did as silently asked.   
“Hey, what’s up? We haven’t seen you all day.” The other boy asked.  
“Nothing. I just wanted to take a nap and hang out.” Lloyd lied with a convincing smile.  
“Oh. By the way, thanks for handing my secret back.”  
“Oh, you’re welcome.”  
“Man, this is really embarrassing for everyone. I'm not only embarrassed and getting second hand embarrassment but I think I’m somehow getting third hand embarrassment too!” Jay exclaimed, his eyes becoming wide. Ash chuckled softly.   
“It is quite interesting.”  
“Tell me about it.” Said Cole, jumping into the conversation. They continued on about the subject, refusing to reveal anything about the secrets of the other contestants out of respect for the others.  
It wasn’t long before dinner ended, time flying as they talked like normal. All of the males cleaned up and went their separate ways. The ninja wished Ash a good evening, continuing on their own way.  
Bedtime came like normal. The teens dispersed and Lloyd hopped contently into his bed as the night announcement played. He quickly fell unconscious and slept through the night.  
The next morning he bounced right out of bed and joined his friends at breakfast. He noticed Jay looking around the entire dining hall.   
“What’s wrong?” Asked Lloyd, his gut telling him that something was off.  
“Where’s Ash? He’s normally one of the first ones here.”  
“You’re right.”  
“Should I go check on him-” There was a loud scream and it was coming from the rooms. Everyone in the dining hall turned their heads. Lloyd and Jay glanced at each other before sprinting towards the noise.  
The swiftly arrived at the rooms, entering the only one with a door wide open. They looked around, seeing no one until they spotted the open bathroom door. They jogged to it, immediately going white, their stomachs dropping.  
Paleman had been the first to discover the horrifying scene, shaking and shivering while letting out a whimper.  
Ash’s corpse laid on the bathroom door, one arm on the toilet as blood covered the entire wall and floor around him. An expression of pain and fear still on his face. A large kitchen knife sat beside him.  
It was mere seconds before the body discovery announcement went off.  
“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a group trial will begin!”


	5. Hidden in the Dying Embers: Deadly Life

The rest of the elemental masters soon arrived, easily figuring out the location of the body. Lloyd cleared his throat, grabbing their attention. He decided to step up as a leader as he was being taught.  
“Listen, everyone, partners worked last time. Let’s go with that again. Feel free to pick whoever you want to again.” They all nodded and agreed, breaking off into couples like they did last time. This time Lloyd went with Zane, trusting Cole to keep Kai in check if he tried to wrongly accuse Karloff again. He also knew that Jay was social enough to find his own partner.  
The blonde shakily approached the pale, cold body, inspecting the stab wound that pierced through his chest. Despite the rigor mortis, he gently pulled the body away from the wall, seeing many more stab wounds.  
“Woah.” he let out, immediately feeling pity for the late Ash.  
“Looks like a crime of passion.” Stated Zane, scanning the wounds with his eyes.  
Lloyd continued on, carefully putting the body back in its place. He looked at the knife next. Yep, that was definitely the murder weapon. However, he saw something beside the weapon. He picked it up. It was one of the sheets containing one of the secrets. It was Bolobo’s. He read it almost silently to himself.  
“Bolobo lived with apes for a full year.” He suddenly heard Zane let out a small ‘ah’. He turned to face the android, curious.  
“The Monokuma file.” He began with a small grin of realization. “He gave it to us for a reason. It must have some information!”  
“Well, check.”  
“Yep! The time of death. Around 5 a.m.”  
“That could be useful.” He stood up slowly. “I think we should talk with Bolobo.”  
Zane agreed and walked off with him to find the large man. He was found partnered with Karloff. The two ninja approached the more muscular men.  
“Hey, Bolobo!” Called the youngest, waving to them. Both turned, only the man of interest responding.  
“What’s going on?” He asked.  
“I just had a question for you.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Did you ever have anything against Ash?”  
“No, never. We barely talked.”  
“Oh, are you sure.”  
“Yeah, I don’t know squat about him.”  
“Oh, then we’ll move on, sorry-”  
“Actually, wait. I have something you might find interesting.”  
“Oh, tell me!”  
“Last night I saw Griffin with a knife. I woke up and wanted some water and I spotted him but didn’t want to question him.”  
“Thank you, Bolobo.”  
“You’re welcome.”  
Lloyd waved and walked off with Zane, making their way back to the rooms to inspect again. On the way, they ran into another partnership. They boys bumped into the two girls in the other group.  
“Sorry!” Said the boy quickly.  
“Ugh.” Hissed one of the girls. When Lloyd looked up at her, he realized it was Camille along with Tox. All four got up and adjusted themselves. Lloyd got an idea.  
“Hey, did you guys see Griffin last night?”  
“Griffin?” Questioned Tox, tilting her head.  
“Yeah, he was seen last night with a knife!” He replied. Suddenly Camille reacted strongly, being overdramatically fearful.  
“Oh, yes! I saw him right before bed! He was horrifying!”  
“What time did you go to bed?”  
“Around eleven!”  
“Thank you! We needed that info.” The boys swiftly walked away.  
“Did you hear what she said?” Zane whispered.  
“It’s exactly what I’m looking for. I want to do a little more examination though.” He went up to Bolobo’s room and grabbed the doorknob. Locked.  
“What do we do?”  
“I think I have an idea.” He cleared his throat. “Monokuma!”  
The bear appeared seemingly out of nowhere.  
“You called.”  
“Oh, yeah. Can you open up Bolobo and Griffin’s rooms?”  
“Well, it is an investigation. Alright!”  
“Thanks.” The door clicked, the bear then leaving like normal. Lloyd managed to open the door.  
The two boys carefully strolled into the nature themed room, starting to look around. Their search seemed useless until Lloyd spotted something. He walked over to it with furrowed brows, now curious. He kneeled down and picked it up. It was a bloodies cloth and it was by the door. The boy’s gaze then turned to the door, specifically the trim right under the door. There was a dark liquid on it. Lloyd took note of this.  
The two continued onto Griffin's room. Immediately Lloyd saw something suspect on the nightstand.  
“Hair bands?” He questioned.  
“That’s odd. Griffin does not have enough hair to require hair bands.”  
“Hmm. I’ll make sure to remember this.”  
“You keep looking in here. I will look at the bathroom.”  
“Good idea.” Lloyd agreed. He continued looking, finding nothing. His inspection was short lived so he went to Zane, who was staring at the sink.  
“Hey, what’s up.”  
“Look.” He pointed inside. The blonde took a peek, seeing an odd translucent green liquid in the sink. He stuck his hand in, getting it unexpectedly stopped. “Don’t!”  
“Huh?”  
“It’s extremely acidic.”  
“Woah, that definitely doesn’t look good for Griffin.”  
“Exactly.”  
“Should we ask him?”  
“We do not have much time left. I don’t think it is worth it.”  
“We’re so screwed.”  
“Don’t seem so distressed, Lloyd, we still have a lot of evidence.”  
“I know, our lives are seriously at stake here.”  
“I am sure we will prevail.” They smiled at each other when the TV turned on, displaying the gathering announcement again. The two boys nodded to each before making their way to the lobby.  
Soon, they arrived and everyone gathered, whispering quietly to each other. Monokuma arrived.  
“You’re all so timely! I’m still impressed.” He jumped with his short legs.  
“Let’s finish this already. I wish to get past this tragedy as fast as possible.” Shade voiced, looking away from everyone.  
“Love the spirit!” The bear shouted before activating the elevator, causing the now even smaller group to descend.  
With a ding, they arrived back at the trial room. They glanced around before returning to their spots. Three death portraits now took over the spots of the deceased. It was a grim reminder of what was to come.  
“Now. I hope you all remember the rules of a trial.” Monokuma returned to his throne-like chair. But everyone was busy staring at each other with suspicion. One of them was a killer and many of the present competitors weren’t looking innocent. However, there was only one murderer and they had to be exposed or everyone else was going down. Therefore, the class trial must begin.  
“We should start with the weapon like last time. That had the best results.” Rationalized Neuro.  
“I agree.” Started Zane. “The weapon was lying right next to the victim. We know it was the knife because the stab wounds match.”  
“Well, last time there was a debate about the weapon.” Lloyd shot back. “So I’m going to jump in with what was by both the body and the weapon.”  
“Oh, and what would that be Lloyd?”  
“A piece of paper, specifically one of the small sheets with someone’s secret written on it.”  
“Do we know who’s secret it was?”  
“We do. Which leads us to our first suspect. It belonged to Bolobo.”  
“Me?” Asked the muscular man. “But you have no other proof I did it!”  
“That’s right! That’s why I asked you if you ever had a problem with Ash. But you told me you saw someone last night.”  
“Yeah, Griffin.”  
“What? I went to bed right after the nighttime announcement!” Whined Griffin angrily.  
“I’m not done yet. Zane and I then ran into Camille and Tox. Camille also told us that she saw Griffin as well last night.”  
“Mhm.” She responded briefly, nodding with her arms crossed.  
“I couldn’t have done it! I go to sleep every night at 10:30 every night!” Griffin shouted, panicking.  
“Two people saw you. You have to admit that’s weird.” Tox retorted.  
“I saw you with a knife, there’s no doubt about it.” Bolobo added on.  
“Do you think I killed Ash in my sleep?” He screeched, growing angry.  
“Actually, Griffin, Monokuma gave us access to your room and we found some weird things.” Lloyd reentered the conversation, stopping the forming argument.  
“Like what?”  
“Well, I want to talk about the most suspect thing. Acidic liquid in your sink.”  
“I see! He could have used an acidic liquid in the place of bleach like Jacob did!” Camille gasped.  
“That’s what I thought too but I didn’t see any blood spill or anything but who says he couldn’t have cleaned it up? That’s not the only odd thing I found. I also found hairbands. Griffin, you don’t have long enough hair to need hairbands. Why would you have them?” Lloyd questioned him, putting pressure on the master of speed.  
“Oh, well-”  
“Enough, Griffin.” Interrupted Tox, rubbing her eyes and sighing. “I was chilling with Griffin after lunch yesterday. Those hair bands are mine and I spat up some acid in his sink. It’s like when you need to hock a loogie but with acid.”  
“I see. Can anyone confirm this?” The blonde looked around.  
“Karloff can.” The metal man. “Karloff saw them talking and laughing after lunch.”  
“Thank you, Karloff.”  
“But that doesn’t explain why I saw Griffin last night. This still doesn’t clear him.” Bolobo said, seeming suspicious.  
“Well, you aren’t so innocent either.”  
“Huh?”  
“Explain the blood covered rag I found by your door.”  
“What, I didn’t even see that!”  
“You’re lucky though.”  
“How?”  
“I doubt if this was yours, you would slide it under the door.”  
“How do we know it was slid under?” Camille entered the debate again.  
“On the trim under the door, there was a spot of blood. Unless Bolobo has amazing aim, then it was slid under.”  
“So with the paper and the rag, you’re saying I was framed?”  
“Yes but I don’t think that’s the end of the story.” Lloyd stated, then turning to the master of speed. “Griffin, you said you go to bed at 10:30 every night but who says that isn’t a lie?”  
“It isn’t!” He snapped in return, growing more and more upset.  
“Calm down. Now, Camille, when did you say you saw Griffin?”  
“Yes, I saw him at eleven last night with the knife!” She recounted again just as dramatically.  
“But that’s weird. I saw him around five in the morning.” Said Bolobo, causing Camille to stop quickly.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yeah, I woke up randomly and decided to take a peek outside. That’s when I spotted Griffin.”  
“You have to be mistaken! Griffin had the knife around eleven!”  
“I really don’t think so.”  
“Maybe he went for the kill but saw me first so he went in for a second attempt later!”  
“Then why wouldn’t he have killed you?” Questioned Tox, challenging her account of the event.  
“Oh, be quiet! You were a suspect too for a moment, getting all close with Griffin! You aren’t all that innocent either!”  
“Yikes, what’s gotten into you?”  
“I saw the killer, Griffin, at eleven pm last night and no one can convince me otherwise!”  
“But did you read the monokuma file?” Llyod rejoined, speaking with an acid tone.  
“What?”  
“Camille, Ash was killed around five am.”  
“Huh?”  
“It’s true! I have camera’s for a reason you know!” Confirmed Monokuma.  
“But-”  
“Why were you gaslighting Bolobo, Camille?” Asked Zane, furrowing his brows.  
“Hold on, none of you are about to accuse me!” She shrieked. “We still saw Griffin, the master of damn speed, with the knife!”  
“That’s right though, and there’s no way to prove it wasn’t him.”  
“How many times do I have to tell you? I was sleeping like a baby!” The aforementioned man yelled, still upset.  
“You really need to learn to relax, Griffin, because I just got an idea.”  
“Well, tell us, Lloyd.” Zane addressed the boy, willing to hear him out.  
“Everyone, take out your secrets.”  
The group glanced at each other, complying and taking out their small sheets of paper. Lloyd instructed them to read out, starting with Shade.  
“I have yours, Lloyd.” He looked to his left, continuing on that way.  
“Karloff has Tox’s” The man of metal stated.  
“I have Jay’s.” Added Bolobo.  
“I got Cole’s” Replied Tox.  
“I have Paleman’s.” Responded Cole.  
“Well, I have Ash’s.” He said, being the next to share.  
“I ended up getting a hold of Zane’s.” Answered Neuro.  
“Mine is Shade’s.” Commented Skylor.  
“I have Griffin’s.” Said Kai.  
“I got yours, Kai.” Lloyd told, being next. He looked to his left as well.  
“Well, I got Skylor’s” Griffin added shyly, still feeling accused.  
“I managed to get Karloff's,” Zane stated as he normally would.  
“I got Shade’s” Replied Jay, confused about why they were doing this.  
Next was meant to be Camille but she was quiet. She looked around at all the pairs of eyes focused on her before speaking.  
“Well, I got Bolobo’s.”  
“Smart but forgetful.” Said Zane under his breath.  
“Wait-”  
“Bolobo’s was the one at the scene! You have a sheet with you meaning it’s your own!” Lloyd exclaimed.  
“I can’t believe everyone here has decided to attack me! Are you all stupid? It could have still been Griffin!” The girl cried out. “He was seen! He could have easily just traded papers! Who says he didn’t?”  
“She’s right.” Zane said with a small groan, pausing, attempting to think of a work around.  
“Alright, I’m getting bored of this same thing now.” Suddenly interrupted their island master, Monokuma. Everyone turned to him with surprise.”Does anyone remember Camille’s element?”  
“I do, I am the master of mind after all.” Answered Neuro. “It was the element of form.”  
“Wait, what does that mean?” Asked Kai.  
“She’s the master of form!” Zane had an epiphany. “That means she can take the form of anyone and imitate them! That would explain Griffin with the knife but all the evidence going against her!”  
“Don’t use my element against me! That has to be some kind of discrimination!” She screeched.  
“There’s so much evidence. It all makes sense. Maybe it’s a long shot but I think I know what happened.”  
“You don’t know a thing you little bitch!”  
“Go for it, Lloyd.” Zane ignored her panicked tantrum.  
“I think I know how it happened!” He closed his eyes and focused before speaking just like he had done before. “Some time around the nighttime announcement, everyone went into their rooms for the night. The real Griffin went to sleep at 10:30 like he does every night. However, the killer was up, plotting. Before five in the morning, they disguised themself as Griffin and grabbed a kitchen knife from presumably the kitchen of course. They thought they were in the clear but had no idea that Bolobo had woken up and spotted them. He went back to sleep, assuming the worst but the fake Griffin was going in to attack the victim. The only other person up at the time was Ash who would open the door for the fake Griffin, assuming he was the real. Once he was invited in, he waited for the moment to strike. The fake stabbed the victim, causing them to bleed out and die. However, they saw that Ash had something of theirs, a secret. So the killer swapped them out and left. They grabbed a rag to wipe off their hands and clothes. They knew Bolobo was already framed, so they slipped the rag under the door. They then left the scene behind, going to breakfast with everyone else the next morning like normal. All the evidence points to the corrupt use of an elemental ability. The killer is… Camille!”  
“You’re wrong.” The suspect replied with her head hanging, a shadow covering her face as her bangs draped over.  
“Huh?”  
“I didn’t figure it out after he was dead, I knew beforehand. I asked around until I found whoever had my secret. It wasn’t very long until I figured out who it was, Ash.” Lloyd thought she would stop there but she continued. “I couldn’t let anyone else figure out my secret. I tried to trade with him but he refused so I went to the extreme to make sure no one ever knew.”  
“I think we can vote.” Cole announced quietly, melancholy taking hold.  
“Agreed.” Sighed Zane. The screens popped up and everyone put their votes in. The large screen turned on, the slot machine from last time appearing as it spun. The murderer’s face was truly revealed as none other than Camille.  
“Wow what a trial!” Monokuma shouted in mock exhaustion.  
“Whatever, just shut the hell up.” Hissed the girl.  
“Are those your last words or do you have more?”  
“You’re all going to hell!” She growled. The bear laughed and pulled out his mallet, slamming it down.  
Game over. Camille has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
Camille stood in the jungle in the middle of a clearing, trees and bushes surrounding. She looked around with a suspicion. A safari hat wearing Monokuma appears holding onto a vine hanging from a tree, binoculars hanging from his neck.  
Suddenly, a rustle was heard in the bushes, causing Camilee to spin around. However, there was another rustle. Two large snakes appeared, baring their fangs and slithering forth, hissing. She was in a defensive stance, glancing back and forth from one to the other. They attempted to strike without warning. Camille took action and jumped into the air, getting the higher ground. She stomped on one’s head, causing the other to miss and strike the other. One was now defeated but the other was angrier than ever. She kicked it in the teeth, causing it to recoil. She threw it to the ground and bounced on its head, knocking it out and defeating it.  
She panted, sweating. She smirked, thinking that she had gained a victory. She thought that she truly was untouchable. She thought that she had stumped the mighty Monokuma but he was still on the vine. He had his binoculars to his eyes, looking up at the sun as a figure passed in front of it.  
A hawk swiftly came down and scooped up Camille, an expression of pure terror on her face. It readjusted it’s claws, dropping the girl into the sharp edges of its nails. She cried out in pain as singular drops of blood started coming from each point of applied pressure.  
It swiftly applied as much pressure as possible, completely impaling her body, blood pouring out from each wound and starting to drip from her mouth.  
She was let go, her body hitting the grass with a splat. It laid there, going limp with eyes open with complete horror.  
The trial room TV turned off, the students silent. It was completely quiet for a good minute before their island master spoke.  
“Well, just to spite her, I’ll be reading out Camille’s secret. Not like she’ll care anymore anyways.” He giggled before bringing out the slightly bloodied sheet. “Camille has a diagnosed problem with a superiority complex!”  
No one could react. It made sense and she deserved to be punished for everything but did shade really have to be brutally killed? Her execution was even more cruel and gory than Jacob’s.  
Soon, they were let go like the last trial, silently returning to the surface with one less party member. All thirteen were left to stare at the wall or floor in sorrow, all beginning to lose hope.


	6. Unforeseen Shady Circumstances: Daily Life

The ninja walked back to their room, it was already late afternoon. The trial had taken up a large chunk of the day.  
“I can’t believe we lost another person. Another friend.” Jay whimpered, on the verge of tears.  
“Four people.” Continued Kai, still struck with shock.  
“I don’t know if I can believe this anymore.” Whispered Lloyd. They talked softly for a while, still feeling awful.   
It was a few moments later when a set of quiet footsteps came up to the group, closest to the blue ninja. All five turned to see Tox, sadness still on her face as well.  
“Sorry, I know you guys are having a moment. We all are.” She handed Jay a piece of paper since he was closest. “I felt bad and thought you guys should have this back.”  
“Thanks.” Replied Lloyd for his friend. She nodded, understanding that they still were all upset. She walked off, leaving them again.  
Jay opened up the paper. It was a secret and since it was Tox’s sheet, Cole’s terrible secret was printed on the paper.   
At first he read with curiosity, anger then appearing on his face. The anger quickly turned into a fiery rage. He started gripping harder, making the paper wrinkle and threaten to tear.  
“You really can’t talk to me, huh?” He growled through clenched teeth.  
“Jay?” Kai attempted to call him. The master of lightingling turned with an enraged look in his eyes, facing Cole.  
“I can’t believe how two faced you are!” He held up the paper. Cole couldn’t read the text but he was able to see his name. He didn’t know what it said but he could guess after their ongoing spat before the competition.  
“Jay!” He exclaimed, not knowing how else to react to his sudden aggression.  
“You don’t think I deserve Nya? At least I can say how I actually feel!”  
“Can you two not argue over my sister again?” Groaned Kai.  
“You don’t even deserve a girlfriend at this rate!”  
“Well maybe I hid it for a reason! Maybe I hid it because every time I bring her up, you throw a tantrum!” Cole yelled back, becoming angry as well.  
“And maybe I throw a ‘tantrum’ for a reason!”  
“Then cry about it! Clearly you can’t handle Nya!”  
“Take it back!”  
“No, because I’m right!”  
“No, you’re an idiot!”  
“Just shut up!” The red ninja attempted to interject.  
The two boys still shouted and insulted each other as they were pulled away from each other by one of the other two older ninja. They were led away from each other, leaving Lloyd in the middle of the hall to look back and forth between the two groups, soon being left by himself. He sighed and walked off, his lone footsteps echoing as he left the bedroom area.  
The two boys still shouted and insulted each other as they were pulled away from each other by one of the other two older ninja. They were led away from each other, leaving Lloyd in the middle of the hall to look back and forth between the two groups, soon being left by himself. He sighed and walked off, his lone footsteps echoing as he left the bedroom area.  
He walked out to the main lobby area, spotting Bolobo on a set of extremely short steps, clearly there just for decorative purposes to get onto a platform less than a foot off the ground.  
Lloyd decided to approach, seeing that he still seemed upset and presumably because of the trial.  
“Hey.” He greeted the other , a little awkward since they didn’t know each other that well. Not only that but Lloyd had accused him of being a killer just a little over an hour ago.  
“Oh, hey.” Bolobo replied.   
“How are you doing?”  
“Alright.” He sighed.  
“Hey, I should apologize.”  
“For what?”  
“He trial-”  
“Oh, that? It’s fine. You were just trying to make sure everyone was safe.”  
“Yeah, sorry.”  
“Don’t. I understand.”   
“Yeah.” Silence fell between them.  
“Hey, I’m sorry you lost another friend. I know it hurts.”  
“Yeah it really does. And now my other friends are fighting.” He didn’t mean to vent but he let it slip.   
“Hey, don’t feel so bad. I’ll be your friend.” He offered with a kind smile. Lloyd smiled back.  
“Thank you, Bolobo. I hope everything will be okay.”  
“Same here, I hope you feel better.”  
“Thanks.”  
Soon, the day passed by, Lloyd repeating his new bedtime routine like normal. He was adapting to their unfortunate situation despite the amount of grieving he did and the paranoia that grew in his mind.  
The next morning was tense, the two groups of the older ninja still separate and refusing to speak with each other. Lloyd sat with Kai and Cole, eating less than usual. Cole seemed to have a sour attitude the whole meal, but said nothing. Kai watched him casually, worried about how this argument and grudge would affect him.   
Lloyd was upset but didn’t want to make the situation worse. He dumped out his uneaten scraps before continuing on with his day, this time alone.  
He was alone until he bumped into Bolobo again and they talked. Bolobo wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed all the time but he was intuitive, empathetic, and kind hearted. His understanding words comforted Lloyd, making him feel less alone due to the situation, slowly becoming more joyful once more.  
Only a few days passed when Monokuma called everyone to the lobby again. Nobody knew what for this time but it wasn’t hard to guess.   
“Welcome back for another motive! Even with everything that’s happened already, you’re still so well behaved, puhuhu.”   
“Enough, just tell us all what the next motive is.” Neuro hissed quietly. He was a very patient person but he was growing tired of the bear and his sick game.  
“Jeez, your patience got shorter than Griffins-”  
“Don’t.” He warned.  
“What is it?” Repeated Kai.  
“Alright, alright, it’s money!”  
“Money?”  
“Yep, the next killer gets a hundred grand! And if the blackened kills a second person, they get double!”  
“Does that mean each person murdered is another hundred thousand? What’s to stop someone from just massacring everyone?” Asked Zane.  
“Oh, yeah, I should probably clarify that in the island rules.”  
“We don’t even have proof that you would pay up!” Stated Tox. The bear shook his head in disappointment, putting several heavy stacks of cash onto the podium. Each brick of paper currency made a small thud sound as it was gently dropped onto the surface.  
“There’s your proof. You get nothing until one of you kills though!” He laughed. “Now, I have to go edit the rules. Have fun!”  
He swiftly disappeared as he tended to do. The other looked around at each other. Monokuma was telling the truth and he had the money to show for it. Where would he have even gotten those stacks of cash? Was he more of a master villain than first thought?  
Suddenly, everyone's e-handbooks buzzed, causing everyone to almost simultaneously take theirs out. Neuro read out the new rules, everyone else looking and listening to him.  
“Rule number ten, the guilty party can kill a maximum of two people during any single ‘Killing Game’.”  
“I guess that answers your question, Zane.” Commented Lloyd.  
“I suppose it does.”  
Everyone went on with their day after the small interruption, becoming paranoid again, starting to lose trust in each other out of fear that one would kill the other over the large sum of money. Fear was especially heightened with the possibility of double the reward, meaning more of a chance of getting murdered.  
Lloyd spoke with Bolobo until dark for comfort, knowing that he would be there to talk and listen to his problems. This always helped considering that most of the time Lloyd had to be tough and strong but of course, he needed his soft vulnerable moments. He was a growing teenager after all. A teenager just thrown into this life and much worse, this horrifying nightmare of torment.  
Lloyd was afraid, upset, overwhelmed but Bolobo helped him through it. He felt like he would be able to sleep through the night. He would be able to feel safe in his room and relax a little bit.  
He wished the other male a good night before going off to just crash and sleep.  
The blonde boy was able to wake up like any other day. He made his way to breakfast and repeated what he had been doing, switching between groups and talking with separated friends.  
Breakfast came to a swift end and the day continued. Lloyd went back to his room to clean up his mess of past depression. He felt bad about not speaking to Bolobo but he could always speak with the man later. He needed to do this though, the mess was to the point where he tripped almost any time he tried to walk anywhere past his bed.  
Before the green ninja even realized, it was lunch time. He finished up what he was doing and left his room, meeting up with the other ninja. They stood separate from each other, Cole and Jay still refusing to even be near each other.  
“The time passed so fast for me! I’m hungry!” Lloyd exclaimed with a smile. Kai chuckled.  
“Me too. Hey, I gotta run to the bathroom. Cole do you wanna wait for me or go ahead on your own?”  
“I can wait.” The other replied.  
“Cool.” He jogged to the bathroom and swung into the restroom. Lloyd waited for a moment before starting to walk again, behind the others.  
Suddenly, a loud shout erupted from the room. Lloyd turned around, unsure if he was really hearing what he thought. Cole confirmed his fears, immediately turning to the door. He pulled it open with one movement, adrenaline causing him to nearly rip the door off the hinges. Lloyd gasped and ran in after him, worried for his best friend.  
Kai was in the middle of the bathroom, next to the stalls and staring at the wall connected to the last. Cole joined at his right and Lloyd by his left. The other two eyes fell upon what had caused Kai to scream.  
Bolobo was sitting on the floor, blood oozing from his head. Splatter had fallen on both the floor and the wall, making the scene more gory than it originally would be. His eyes, though, were closed, making the unfortunate corpse less painful to look at.  
The speakers crackled, the sound of pre-recorded Monokuma muffled in the room.  
“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a group trial will begin!”


	7. Unforeseen Shady Circumstances: Deadly Life

“Oh my god.” Whimpered Cole, his hands moving up to cover his mouth as his skin drained of color.  
“No!” Lloyd choked back tears. “No, not again!”   
The youngest grabbed at his light hair, scrunching up his nose. He was distressed seeing his source of temporary therapy dead on the ground, brutally murdered.  
“W-We have to get the others!” Stuttered Kai, grabbing Lloyd’s arm. Cole joined them as they ran out of the horrifying bathroom. Zane and Jay were already coming to their aid. Zane skidded to a stop, seeing their expressions. However someone else had joined them as well.  
“I felt a disturbance coming from this way!” Neuro spat out, panting softly.  
“I had a feeling that had something to do with you guys.” Zane added.  
“It’s Bolobo! He was killed!” Cried out the youngest.  
“Let us in. I need to see the scene.” Lloyd didn’t respond but Kai gave the android the okay. All six entered, Lloyd trying to cover his eyes yet be unsuspicious.   
Zane scanned the body as Jay wandered, looking around the sink area. He leaned down and looked down under the stall. He cracked a small smile.  
“Uh, oh! It looks like it’s that time of the month for someone.” This caused Zane to stop. He turned to the boy.  
“Jay, we are in the boys bathroom.”  
“Dude, then what am I seeing? Maybe someone just had a really bad time then. It’s the last stall.”   
“Jay.” He sighed softly, almost in a whisper. He put his hand on the door gently, raising his voice again. He slowly opened the door as he spoke. “I can assure you that nobody is menstruating in this bathroom. If this is a prank it isn't funny-”  
Everyone gathered around, concerned about his sudden pause. Everyone else paused, a couple even gasping  
Another bloodied body. Shade, the master of shadow. He sat on the toilet, arms hanging to the side, his feet stuck in rigor mortis above the ground, explaining why Jay hadn’t seen his shoes when he looked under.  
A shiny knife laid on the ground, blood covering the first half of the blade. The body, however, was even gorier. The wall was splattered with his blood, so saturated that it dripped down his arms and sides, dripping onto the tile. Several wounds covered his mangled body. His eyes were thankfully closed as well.  
Suddenly, another muffled announcement rang out.  
“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a group trial will begin!”  
“Another body announcement?” Asked Jay.  
“It makes sense, another body was found.” Neuro answered. Kai wanted to add onto the but panicked, running to the door and shouting to everyone who was leaving the dining hall.  
“In here!”  
“This is insane.” Lloyd seemed like he was going to be sick.  
“It looks like someone really took that offer seriously.” Zane commented.   
Soon, everyone was able to pile into the bathroom. They got into partners with the exception of a singular group of three which would end up being Zane, Kai, and Jay together. This left Lloyd with Cole this time which he absolutely didn’t mind. Cole was logical and normally rather calm and helpful in situations like this. Of course he seemed on edge like the others but he managed to keep himself stable.  
The two started at Bolobo’s body. Lloyd was upset at the feeling of his friend’s cold skin but it brought him comfort knowing that if he tried hard enough, he could find his murderer. He carefully pulled him away from the wall and checked out his head wound.   
“Yikes, it looks like someone tried to cut him open.”  
“Jeez, that’s a serious cut there.” Cole was surprised with the long wound on the head.  
“Looks like the killer missed and hit him a couple times on the chest and neck too.”  
“Seriously, who would be so desperate to kill someone that they would stab randomly like that?”  
“Someone who didn’t care and wanted him dead.”  
“Yeah.” He sighed as he touched the blood. “Head wounds bleed a lot which explains the amount of blood here.”  
“Yikes.” The blonde stood, moving over to the other body.  
“Is that all you have to say about Bolobo?”  
“For now, yeah. I wanna see if there’s any similarities between the bodies.”  
“The wounds.”   
“You’re right, they’re both covered in stab wounds.” He ran his finger down the cut flesh. The mix of the disgusting texture and the cold skin sent a shiver down his spine. He turned his head to the knife on the floor. Cole cocked his head slightly.  
“What?”  
“The knife. Something’s wrong with it.”  
“Isn’t that just the murder weapon?”  
No.” Lloyd picked it up. He brought it to the other. “Look. The blood looks dripped on and there’s weird streaks in it.”  
“You’re right!” Cole hopped up on one foot and started picking at his shoe, attempting to balance. “Sorry, I feel something in my shoe. I can’t figure out what it is!”  
“That’s weird. Let me look for you.” He leaned down and searched as Cole continued trying to loosen the invading object. The boy's eyes widened. “Weird.”  
“What? What’s wrong?” The other asked. Lloyd picked it out for him. Cole finally put his other foot down on the ground. The younger of the two presented him with a piece of colored glass.  
“Woah, how did that get there?” The black ninja seemed surprised.  
“No idea.” Lloyd thought silently for a moment. “Actually, now you got me thinking.”  
“What do you mean?” He questioned as the other went to the body, staring at the wounds.  
“Do you happen to have something long and sturdy on you? Like a pencil or a fork or something?” Lloyd avoided his question and asked a seemingly completely random one instead. The other male answered anyways.  
“Uhh, yes, actually. I have chopsticks I kept from lunch!” He dug in his pocket and took them out.  
“Perfect! Can I have them?”  
“Sure, I don’t need them anymore.” He placed them into Lloyd’s backwards pointing outstretched hand, watching as he brought his arms to the front right in front of the corpse of Shade.   
“I thought I saw something and thought I was crazy but now I think I’m onto something. But maybe I am a little crazy.”  
“What are you talking about?” He attempted to watch over the blonde boy’s shoulder but could see nothing.  
Lloyd was over the body, working by himself. He began to sweat as he worked the chopsticks into the cold slices of flesh. He was grossed out but was too focused to let that actually bother him. He finally grabbed what he wanted, a small shiny piece of something. He picked it out and repeated the process until he grabbed a few of the same shiny pieces and dropped them into his other hand.   
“So I’m not an idiot!”  
“What on earth is that?” Cole raised an eyebrow, disgust appearing on his face due to the disgusting old blood surrounding the small bits.  
“Exactly what I thought it was! Look!” The tiny pieces were identical to the larger piece that had clung to the rubber sole of the shoe.  
“Oh my god.”  
“I think we were misled with the knife! What would these pieces be a part of, though?”  
“Now idea, let’s see if we can find anything else.”  
“Yeah.” They agreed to leave, washing their hands out of mild disgust before exiting. They left to explore the rest of the building, not having enough evidence to explore anyone’s room yet.   
The pair's first stop was the lobby area. Lloyd looked up and gasped, alerting Cole suddenly. He jumped a little before spotting the same thing the younger boy did.   
“Holy crap.” They were looking at four vases, one in each corner. There was the exception, one had fallen or had been pushed off, shattering it on the floor. Lloyd ran up to it and kneeled down to analyze.  
“This is definitely the same glass.”  
“Why would someone break a vase though? Wouldn’t it make too much noise?”  
“Not if everyone was asleep.”  
“But what about the murder happening by the rooms? That would be even louder!”  
“I can answer that!” Yelled Monokuma as he appeared out of nowhere, making both boys jump. “Your rooms are soundproof! That’s why none of the murders have been heard happening when in normal rooms, you would.”  
“Oh, that would make a lot of sense.” Lloyd slowly relaxed again.  
“Thought that might be useful but not a give away. Still doesn’t save my poor vase though.”  
“Screw your vase! I think two corpses are more a concern here!” Cole stated with a growl, pointing a finger at the much shorter animal.  
“Not even a drip of sympathy, how cruel.” He sulked before popping right back up to his loud cheery state. “I hope you kids actually find something. Not because I care about how the trial goes but it’s fun to watch you struggle to solve this mystery!”  
The bear laughed before disappearing again, leaving the two ninja by themselves once more.  
The green ninja wanted to let out an insult out of annoyance but Cole interrupted him, bringing something important to his attention.  
“Hey, look. Some of the pieces are missing. When I put it together in my mind, it looks like big chunks were taken out.”  
“Oh and that makes sense with the bodies! So the weapon wasn't the knife, it was the glass!”  
“That makes sense!”  
“But where would that glass be?”  
“Good question. I have an idea that we can go through with while we search for the glass.”  
“Oh, okay. You take the lead.” Cole did as said and walked with the younger boy to the dining hall. To Lloyd’s surprise he was taken back into the kitchen but then it began to make sense.   
Cole went up to the rack of knives screwed into the tile wall. He looked at it only for a few seconds before speaking.  
“Two are missing.”  
“Two?” Lloyd screeched, panicking.  
“Calm down. Let’s just search around.”  
“Alright.” He trusted the older boy so he did as asked and began exploring the kitchen. He explored the cabinets and found many things that one would find in a kitchen such as spices and canned ingredients. However, the smaller percentage of items were more concerning. Things such poisonous powders and hallucinogenic drugs shoved in the back. Lloyd decided to say nothing and place them back where they were before, hiding them away again.  
He then looked down at the sink, stepping off of the short stool he had found to assist him. He quickly hopped over, looking in again. He was relieved when he found the other missing knife in the sink. He reached in.  
“Hey, I found it! Looks like it has some meat juices still on- Ow!” He yelped as he felt something poke his fingers as he picked it up. Cole came running over, hearing his small cry of pain. He took the knife from the other and placed it back where it belonged before returning to tend to Lloyd.  
He gently forced his clenched hand to inspect the area hurt. He looked down and saw a gaming shard of glass stuck shallowly into the tip of the other boy’s ring finger. A small amount of blood was rising to the surface around the foreign object.  
Cole gently picked out the sharp piece and inspected it. It was another piece of that decorative glass. He showed it to Lloyd.  
Both glanced at each other before looking at the sink. They stepped back and stuck their faces in it, scanning for more of the same. Odd geometric spots sparked in the sink, signifying that more glass was present.  
“There’s so much of it in the sink! And it’s tiny!” Lloyd pointed out.  
“Yeah. It must have been put in the disposal.”  
“That makes so much sense!”  
“I’m not about to reach in there and feel around though.”  
“Me neither. We could check the pipes but the only person who I know can do that is-”  
“Don’t.” Cole interrupted him, stopping the younger from saying the name of his current nemesis.   
“Sorry, maybe it’s best to leave it alone. We’d probably only find more glass anyways.”  
“Mhm.” He hummed bitterly with a nod. Lloyd motioned for him to follow him out of the kitchen. Cole did so silently without protest.  
They walked quietly down the hall, the blonde contemplating what other evidence there possibly could be. His train of thought was rudely interrupted by a door to the face. He yelped sharply.  
“Jeez, are you okay?” Asked the other.  
“Yeah. Who even left this door open?”  
“Huh, maybe we should check it out.”  
“That sounds like a good idea.” They agreed to enter the room they had run into on accident. Perhaps though, it was more destiny than an accidental run in.  
When they walked inside, they realized that they had entered the laundry room. This was evidenced by the multiple washers and dryers as well as the hanging clothes of their friends. A couple of the machines hummed as Lloyd and Cole analyzed.  
“The laundry room?” The blonde was confused. He walked over to the dripping clothes of one of the girls.  
“That’s weird.” Cole opened one of the machines which was currently at rest. Lloyd’s eyes shifted over to a crimson jacket hanging from the line strung from wall to wall. It was shoved pretty far back and was half dry. “Yikes!”  
The other boy looked over, hearing his partner suddenly shout. He saw him looking in one of the dead machines. He jogged over out of worry and curiosity.  
“What is it?” Cole pointed to something in the drum. Lloyd leaned down to peek inside. His eyes widened and his expression became even more confused. “Shoes?”  
“A pair of dress shoes. Weird, right?” The black ninja carefully pulled them out of the washer to inspect. “Woah, there’s spots of blood!”  
“Blood? These have to be the murderer’s shoes!” It wasn’t a difficult conclusion to come to.  
“Clearly. If you’re going to remember anything for this case then this should be it.”  
Cole’s timing was perfect as the investigation time came to the end with Monokuma’s usual announcement. In the same announcement he called everyone down to the lobby just like the other times. The ninja gulped.  
“I’m so confused still! This isn’t good!”  
“Don’t worry, Cole! I’m sure we’ll solve this case!” Lloyd comforted, sounding confident. He, however, was unsure himself. Internally he was terrified beyond words.  
Everyone quickly gathered like the past couple times. Monokuma appeared with an annoying laugh.  
“Wow, I’m really starting to see a real dent in the population here! I hope everyone’s ready for this trial. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a doozy!” Nobody responded. The ten remaining competitors were sent down in the same round elevator which was now actually starting to look empty.  
The trip to the trial room felt quicker now. The doors opened to reveal the same old trial room, decorated with three more death portraits.  
A dread filled Lloyd as he saw the faces of the deceased. This heavy feeling mixed with the terror of feeling as if this trial could potentially be impossible. But he still had hope. Maybe a light would shine through and the blackened would be discovered. The only way to find out was to persevere through this challenge. It was finally time to begin.  
“Where do we even start with this one?” Sighed Griffin, starting off the trial with a good question.  
“I think we should start with the murder weapon.” Cole stated knowling this. His gaze turned to Lloyd, the other’s soon following as well.  
“Yeah.” He agreed briefly.  
“But don’t we know what the weapon is? That knife on the floor was kind of hard to miss.” Tox raised an eyebrow.  
“Actually, I think that’s why Cole wanted to bring up the murder weapon first.”  
“Explain then.”  
“Where do I even start with this? Well, let’s begin with the actual knife. Did anyone actually inspect the blood on it?” He got a few nods and a couple murmurs. “Good, did anyone else notice something odd with the pattern of the blood?”  
“The pattern? What does that have to do with anything?” Jay asked, genuinely confused. Lloyd brought up a picture to have a visual to explain with.  
“Look, the blood is splattered on the tip as if it dripped on. The second are those weird streaks. If they were up and down, you could say that happened while stabbing but they’re going in multiple directions. My theory is that the killer rubbed the blood on to make the knife look like it was the murder weapon!”  
“But that does not prove that the knife was not actually the murder weapon.” Zane fired back respectfully.  
“Well I was suggesting that there was more to the weapon.”  
“Continue on then.”  
“Gladly. While we were inspecting the bodies, Cole stepped on something and it got stuck to his shoe. When he took it off, we realized it was colored glass.”  
“That’s when Lloyd got the idea to inspect the wound. Hopefully you didn’t eat before this because this is about to get nasty.” Cole said, then inhaling. “I handed him a chopstick to poke around and after working for a moment, he managed to pick out a ton of little shards of the same purple colored glass.”  
“Even if the glass was the weapon, where would they even get it?” Paleman asked, pushing up his glasses with his invisible hand.  
“I’m glad you asked.” The green ninja grinned. “The very lobby we just came from.”  
“But I didn’t see any broken glass. I didn’t see anything even made of glass!” Griffin retorted.  
“No, I remember the vases in the lobby.” Recalled Tox.  
“Yes, they were present. Lloyd is right too, I remember seeing the broken vase. Are you suggesting that’s where the murderer would have gotten the glass from?”  
“Exactly!” Lloyd jumped with a burst of excitement but his face swiftly dropped. “Where did the vases even go though”  
“Puhuhu.” Monokuma giggled. “A bear’s gotta keep up the appearance of the place! So it’s my bad!”  
“Don’t mess with us like that again.” Hissed Kai. Lloyd sighed.  
“But if the glass was the weapon, then wouldn’t there have to be a piece large enough to act like a blade?” Tox jumped in again.  
“I’m glad everyone keeps asking such good questions. This actually ties into the knife as well.” The blonde answered.   
“Yep, this takes us to the kitchen now.” Cole added.   
“We went to the kitchen to check to see if any knives were missing. We saw that two were missing. We looked around for the second knife in case someone had used it for food or whatever. I spotted it in the sink which confirmed my theory.  
“Heh heh.” Chucked Karloff with a pink blush, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, Karloff was hungry.”  
“It’s fine. Actually, it helped us find evidence. I went to grab the knife to look at it when I got stabbed in the hand and not by the blade.”  
“Lloyd had a huge splinter in his finger. I picked it out and what was it? Glass.” Cole smirked, proud of their proof.  
“Our theory is that the killer put the glass in the garbage disposal. We couldn’t prove this though since neither of us wanted to stick our hand down the drain.”  
“Maybe we could have figured it out if someone wasn’t holding a grudge and would come help us.”  
“Hey, you didn’t even ask me!” Yelled Jay, knowing that the other was talking about him.  
“Not right now, you two! It’s in the past.” Zane interrupted their bickering.   
“Zane’s right. Now let’s move on.” Lloyd attempted to lead again.  
“Cease.” Neuro hopped in. “You skipped something so obvious that you could see it with blind eyes.”  
“Huh, what could I be missing?”  
“The restrooms. The restroom both were found in was the male’s restroom. That suggests that the killer is a male as well.”  
“Who says that a girl couldn’t have done it either? If they were just going in for the kill then it wouldn’t matter what bathroom they would be in.” Kai stated, making a valid point.  
“Kai’s right but we’re going to come back to gender, Neuro. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” Lloyd grinned  
“Are you talking about the laundry room?” Cole tilted his head.  
“Yep!”  
“Right, we were walking down the hall back to the room when we quite literally ran into the laundry room.”  
“Yep, I ran right into the door.” He smiled awkwardly out of embarrassment.   
“We got curious and decided to explore inside. That’s when we saw that it was the laundry room.”  
“So we looked around. We obviously saw some clothes being washed and hung up. It wasn’t long before Cole discovered something in one of the machines.”  
“A pair of mens dress shoes. Not only was being hidden away in the washing machine suspicious, but they were covered in small spots of blood.”  
“So now we have something that could lead us to a suspect!” Tox concluded aloud.  
“Exactly!” Lloyd replied with a smile.  
“So that means that the murderer wasn’t a female.” Zane stated for the group.  
“Yep. Not only that, but we can cross off some of the boys too.”  
“Ah, yes!” Zane closed his eyes to load the information from his mechanical brain. “We drop suspicion on Lloyd, Cole, Kai, Griffin, Tox, Karloff, and Skylor. This leaves Jay, Paleman, and unfortunately me.”  
“Yes, exactly!”  
“Hey, I wouldn’t call them dress shoes!” Jay crossed his arms. He was ignored.  
“That makes this way easier, then!” Kai smiled. His grin quickly dropped when he realized the likelihood of one of his best friends being the murderer.   
“You know, Jay, I knew not to trust you. I should have known that someone like you could be the killer.” Cole teased with a sly, relaxed smirk.  
“You know, this doesn’t make you look good either!” The other hissed, becoming flushed with anger.  
“Enough.” Interrupted the nindroid sharply. He looked over to his youngest friend. “Lloyd, do you have more information?”  
“Uh.” He panicked, tensing up and starting to flush like Jay. Sweat threatened to form. “A-All I can think of is the weird crimson jacket I saw hanging really far by the wall. Like so far that it was above the machines and almost against the wall.”  
“Crimson jacket? Oh, you mean like Paleman’s.” The invisible man jumped at his name being spoken by Zane.  
“Me? You think I did it just because I was doing my laundry?”  
“No, we weren’t suggesting that!” Lloyd tried to defend himself. He was losing this battle, giving into his anxiety. “I-I don’t know!”  
“You don’t know? This is a life and death situation, how could you just fail like that.” The transparent man’s cruel manipulation wasn’t helping. It sent Lloyd further mentally but he had to keep his head up. He stood up straight, managed to hold back all tears and sweat, shaking instead.  
“The only other thing I can think of is-” His voice trailed off swiftly as he turned his head to Monokuma. The bear laughed almost in a whisper before speaking.   
“Me? You know I can’t just give you answers, right?”  
“I know but please, can’t you give us some information about the killer?”  
“A hint? How pitiful but I suppose I can help if I can make it interesting.” Lloyd cracked a small smile out of gratefulness and relief.   
“Please, give us something about them!”  
“Well, I didn’t see them!” The boy’s smile fell as the words came out.  
“W-What? But you have cameras all over the place! You had to have seen them!”  
“I’m telling you, I didn’t see them!” Monokuma tilted his head. Lloyd turned back to the front, looking down at his feet. His face drained of color. His breathing felt heavy. He thought he was about to faint until Cole spoke back up.  
“Wait, Monokuma didn’t see them but we know he had eyes everywhere.”  
“Good job repeating everything they just said. Are you proud of yourself?” Jay sassed out of a lack of patience for the other.  
“Yeah, I know, Captain Obvious. I’m repeating it because it actually makes sense.”  
“How does that make sense?” Griffin asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“Think about it, the killer wasn’t seen despite cameras everywhere. The answer is right there!”  
“Cole, what are you saying?” Asked Lloyd, his voice now weaker.  
“They wouldn’t have been seen on the cameras for one reason, they’re invisible!” Paleman nearly jumped out of his crystal clear skin but managed to keep himself grounded.  
“You guys really think I did this? I thought you were joking!”  
“Nope, it all adds up. What Monokuma said makes so much sense when you think about it!” Lloyd started perking up, regaining his hope in this trial all thanks to Cole.  
“That would also explain the damp coat hanging near the wall. He wanted it hidden so hopefully nobody would see it and it would go ignored!”  
Oh, come on! Now you’re just pulling things out of your ass!” The accused shouted furiously.  
“Am I? Or have we just cracked this case open?”  
“You can’t prove I did anything! For all you know, I was framed!”  
“If you were framed then why would Monokuma give us that one detail that makes you the main suspect?” Zane questioned, glaring.  
“You seriously trust that bear? He’s the reason we’re even arguing right now!”  
“Why would I give false information? That would just make the trial useless and boring.” He added in. “Plus, I’m the one with the footage to prove it.”  
“There’s not even cameras in the bathroom! How would you know that it was even really me?”  
“The Monokuma file!” Suddenly blurted Jay. “It has the time of death! If Monokuma has the footage then it can be checked if it all adds up!”  
“Nice catch, Jay!” The ice ninja complimented, proud of his good memory swooping in the help.  
“Monokuma, show us the footage!” Commanded Kai excitedly.  
“Hmm, I normally wouldn’t since it would spoil the trial but the actual murder isn’t shown so I suppose it’s okay.” The bear grabbed a small remote and turned on the large TV on the trial room wall, displaying the footage of the camera facing the men’s bathroom door.   
At 8:50 am, Bolobo enters the bathroom. At 9, Paleman enters after looking around, most likely looking to see if anyone is watching. He enters. Exactly six minutes later, Shade enters, completely ignoring the camera and swiftly walking in, suggesting that he would have no idea of what was to come. At 9:15, Paleman leaves, looking around again. Blood covers his sleeves and is lightly splattered on his coat. The same splatter is on his dress shoes. At 9:17 he jogs off screen.   
The TV screen returned to black. The trial room was dead silent with shock for nearly a solid minute.   
“You- You still can’t prove it was me!”  
“Pale, the time of death is recorded as 9:15 am. There’s no way to disprove this.” Jay retorted, his voice quiet and somewhat solemn. The suspect stuttered, all his thoughts and words jumbled due to his emotional distress.  
“Wait, that’s what you were doing?” Tox suddenly exclaimed. All heads turned to her.   
“What do you mean?” Asked Griffin, concern plastered on his face.  
“I came in to do my laundry and Paleman was in the room when I came in. He was panting but I thought it was just because he was doing a huge load. Even his coat was off! I just said hi and dropped off my own clothes in the wash. I can’t believe this.”  
“Tox.” His voice trailed off.  
“I think we know how to wrap this up.” Stated Lloyd, fighting through the same depressed aura that seemed to surround everyone.  
“Go ahead, kid.” Sighed the girl, looking away from the invisible man.  
“The killer invited Bolobo and Shade to the bathroom with the facade of wanting to talk. Bolobo entered the bathroom, waiting for the killer. Soon they arrived. Shade arrived a little late but swiftly entered. The killer already had a knife on them but knew that would be too obvious so they used it to throw everyone else off. They pulled out a sharp chunk of glass and began attacking, leaving small shards in the wounds and on the ground. Both were soon dead. After this, their murderer left and ran to the laundry room. They took off their stained jacket and shoes. They managed to get their jacket cleaned so they hung it up against the wall so it wouldn’t be visible. They wanted to get to their shoes next bur heard someone coming, so they quickly threw them in a washing machine and closed the door. Tox came in, completely oblivious to the fact that a murderer was in the room with her. She left unharmed. The killer left, relieved with the weapon. They throw it in the sink and turn on the disposal, effectively getting rid of the evidence. The only thing that truly pointed to them was the camera footage which captured them. However, the camera didn’t capture an actual body. The accounts of others and the cameras lead to one person. The killer is… Paleman.”  
There was a long pause after the final statement. The accused sighed but spoke. He didn’t shout. He didn’t even seem angry.  
“You got me.” He in fact, seemed defeated. “But you’re wrong.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I only asked Bolobo to meet me in the bathroom. Shade wasn’t a part of the plan. He just came in at the wrong time and the wrong place.”  
“Why? Why would you do this?”  
“Isn’t it obvious? The motive was literally given to you, money. I wanted the money and I got carried away and went for the double kill for more.”  
“Why would you need that much money that bad?”  
“I always had a thing for the green. I never needed it, I just wanted it because I’m greedy.”  
“Paleman, you didn’t have to do this.”  
“Oh absolutely not, I know. At the time it was worth the shot.”  
“Didn’t you care about them?”  
“Of course but a couple eggs gotta be broken.”  
“Was it even worth it?”  
“Jeez, is this your last question? Well I got caught so obviously you’d expect me to say no but honestly, it really wasn’t worth it. I was an idiot and now I gotta live with it. Well, technically not anymore but you know what I mean.”  
“I thought you were a good guy, you know?” Tox whispered, clearly holding back tears as hard as possible.   
“Of course I thought about myself like that too but at least I can admit that I’m a piece of shit. Now, do me all a favor, vote for me.” Everyone wanted to say something yet nobody could form the words and speak.  
The voting screen popped up. Everyone hesitantly voted, some even a little shaky. Soon the screens disappeared and the TV turned on again, displaying the familiar slot machines of fate.  
The slots rolled until all three landed on the invisible face of Paleman, confetti raining down as it did the other times the group was correct. The large screen went black.  
“Paleman, you could have avoided this, you could have still been able to live if you just thought!” Lloyd screamed, holding back tears of pent up frustration and pain.  
“I know. I thought I had a chance. Though if I didn’t kill, then maybe I would have been next.” He looked away from the boy as shown by the movement of his warm tone sunglasses.   
“Well, any last words, invisible man?” Monokuma tilted his head.  
“You all caught me fair and square. Keep fighting even with me gone. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll get to see Shade and Bolobo again.”  
“Wow, some real inspiration there!” The bear said with a slight tone of teasing. He finally uttered the phrase he was waiting to say the entire trial. “Let’s give it everything we got! It’s punishment time!”  
The hammer was slammed down, sealing his fate.  
Game over. Paleman has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
Paleman was in a room. A screen was in the corner, displaying a message. A message which stated ‘The goal is to hide. If not, you’ll be shot!’. Paleman took that seriously as a count down of five seconds appeared on the screen. He swiftly made himself fully invisible as a group of five armed Monokumas ran in. They look around and find nothing, then leave. The invisible man’s clothing and accessories become visible again. More text appeared. ‘Round two’. Then after that, ‘Let’s make this interesting…’. Paleman heard a noise above him, realizing the ceiling was opening. Suddenly he was assaulted with a heavy rain of flour, revealing his figure and partially revealing his real face. The countdown began again as he rubbed his eyes since the powder had snuck under his glasses. Suddenly the five Monokuma’s ran in. The man made eye contact with them. He raised his hands up in false hope as he was continuously shot. He tried to get away only to fall to the ground, panting as he was full of bullet holes. One bear walked up to him. Paleman turned his head to look. A barrel was to his skull. One more shot rang out as the Man laid on the ground, his open wounds leaking visible blood.  
The spectator screen turned off. Normally there was silence after an execution but this time, nobody could even say anything after. Monokuma released them, allowing them to return to the surface. Even in the elevator ride up, nobody said a word.  
The second the elevator opened after reaching the main floor, Lloyd exitted, going straight to the rooms and entering his own place. He hopped into bed as the sun just began to set, shining bright through the balcony windows. He curled up in the fetal position, facing away from the light. He turned onto his stomach, arms under his pillow.  
He began to think then he began to cry. He sobbed softly as his pillow case became wet with his tears of hurt. He just wanted this sick game to end. All he wanted was to escape.


	8. Nerves of Steel, Heart of Steel: Daily Life

He continued for a few hours, the sun now almost fully set. He sniffled and wiped his face down with a damp towel. He took a couple breaths before leaving his room.  
Outside, right by the door, Cole and Zane were talking softly in low voices. It reminded him of his parents. This only brought more hurt. He missed his parents. He had just gotten his father back and for all he knew, he would never see him again.  
Both boys turned their heads to him at the same time.  
“Oh, Lloyd, you skipped dinner, are you okay?” Cole asked, genuine concern on his face.  
“I’m fine. I just needed time alone.” He replied, looking away by looking down at the wooden boards on the ground.  
“Are you hungry? I happen to have some snacks for you.” Offered Zane.  
“No, I’m fine.” He looked back up, seeing the other two ninja approaching. Jay seemed fine until he spotted Cole. He glared.  
“Wow, so you’re that much of an asshole, huh?” He spat.  
“Oh, what is now?” The rival hissed acidly.  
“You tried to accuse me during the trial! Like, really?”  
“Oh, come on, you knowing I was just teasing, right?”  
“That’s not a time to ‘tease’! God, you’re inhuman I swear!”  
“Woah, didn’t know you could use words that big!” They continued going at each other. Zane soon had to step in as they got louder and more aggressive.  
Kai said and walked over to Lloyd, putting an arm around his back to gently lead him away from the arguing. Soon he dropped his arm. Lloyd looked up at him, being the shorter of the two. Kai quickly noticed and looked back, finally starting the conversation.  
“You know, I’m finally talking to that girl I like. I’m pretty sure she’s into me too.”  
“Oh, Skylor? That’s cool, I know you’ve been into her since we got here.”  
“Was I that obvious?”  
“If you have to ask that, then I think you know the answer to that question.”  
“Oh, be quiet. How could I not be? Smart, strong, hot.”  
“Do you even know her last name?”  
“No, actually, it’s weird. She wouldn’t tell me.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, every time I asked she either said ‘later’ or changed the subject. It kind of weirded me out but I decided to just let it slide.”  
“That seems kind of like a red flag.”  
“I mean, I don’t think anything’s wrong with her. That was just kind of weird.”  
“It’s a little more than weird.”  
“Whatever you say. Maybe she’s just uncomfortable with her family name.”  
“Maybe. You do tend to have good judgement when it comes to dating.”  
“Thankfully.”  
“Well, I hope you two really are meant for each other.”  
“Yeah.” He thought silently for a short moment before changing the subject. “Hey, are you okay? You were locked in your room for a long time and you didn’t even come to dinner.”  
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”  
“You sure? You didn’t look so good when I first saw you again.”  
“This is just a lot to unload. I just want to go home already.”  
“We all do.”  
“I know.”  
“Hey, don’t feel so bad. You’re still technically a kid, Lloyd.”  
“I know, I know but I’m meant to be a leader.”  
“A leader shouldn’t be afraid to show their emotions.”  
“You’re right, I just really don’t want the others to see me like this.”  
“I get it. If you need to take a break, you should. This is hard on everyone, especially you.”  
“Thanks, Kai.” Lloyd awkwardly rubbed the back of his own neck.  
“Everyone has a breaking point.” He sighed. “Well, I think I’m gonna go talk to Skylor before bed.”  
“Oh, alright, good luck I guess.”  
“Thanks.” He replied, cracking a smile before jogging off with a small wave. Lloyd exhaled loudly once he was gone. His advice had made him feel better but he was just upset and afraid. When was this going to end? Was there ever going to be an end?  
He couldn’t think anymore. His body was threatening to give him a headache if he dwelled on everything any more. He decided to just simply return to his room.  
The fight had been broken up, the only remaining person in the hallway was Zane. He tried to ask if Lloyd needed anything but the boy just out his hand up and went inside.  
His brain was so broken. His emotions were so broken. He just plopped down on his messy bed again, slamming his face into the pillow. He fell asleep within minutes, about an hour earlier than normal.  
His interrupted sleep schedule woke him in the early hours of the next morning.It was around one am. Lloyd sat up, realizing the time. He ran a hand through his hair before an odd feeling hit him. He suddenly knew that something was off. He looked to his door and the very small bit of light from the hallway that crept inside from under it.   
He furrowed his brows, squinting slighting as he got out of bed, quietly sneaking to the door. He crouched down and put his ear to the tiny opening. He listened closely, straining to hear anything. He heard something though and jumped up slightly. He felt his stomach drop a little.   
It took him some breathing and self calming but he mustered up the courage to shakily turn the knob and open the door. He peaked out, squinting due to the contrast of light. He saw a figure by the public bathrooms. It took Lloyd a moment to identify who the larger figure was but he was quickly able to figure it out.  
“Karloff?” He asked in a hushed voice. The man turned his head and looked over at him. He didn’t get a verbal response so he stepped out of his room, gently closing the door behind him. He walked up to him, now curious. “What are you doing?”  
“Uhhh, well.” His eyes looked away to the left.  
“Is everything okay.”  
“Karloff is fine.”  
“It’s one in the morning.”  
“Karloff knows.” He sighed, slightly ashamed.  
“Hey, you can tell me what’s up.”  
“Karloff needs to use the bathroom but is afraid something will happen.”  
“The bathroom? Don’t you have your own?”  
“Karloff is, well, waiting for that to be fixed tomorrow.”  
“Oh, I see now.” He was a little bit disturbed but at least it was a fair explanation. “What are you afraid will happen?”  
“Karloff is scared he will end up like his friends did.”  
“Karloff, you’re so strong, you don't have to be afraid.”  
“Karloff knows but he’s afraid that if he runs into someone he might end up being a bad guy.”   
“Oh, I see.”  
“Please, would you go in with Karloff? It’s idiotic but Karloff needs some comfort.”  
“It’s not idiotic, I get it! Yesterday was a rough one, okay.” The metal man nodded. Lloyd walked in ahead of him and motioned for him to follow. Karloff did so and went to one of the urinals just to pee.  
Lloyd waited against the wall, his eyes starting to feel a little heavy again, most likely from the adrenaline leaving his body from that small scare before.  
The other male was soon done, returning to the boy and looking at him, signalling that they could leave. Lloyd got off the wall and left with him. He walked over to Karloff’s room with him.  
“Do you need anything else?” He questioned, still willing to help him.  
“No.”  
“Get some more rest, okay? Relax a little. I know it’s hard.”  
“Thank you.”  
“You’re welcome.” Karloff closed the door, leaving the other outside in the hall. He waited for a moment before sighing, slumping over slightly. He walked off and returned back to his place.  
It was only minutes after entering and returning to bed that he fell asleep.  
Lloyd slept all the way until the morning announcement woke him. He stretched, still feeling sleep still trying to pull him back to bed for a little longer. He didn’t listen to his body, though. He got up instead, putting himself together.  
Within ten minutes he was dressed and ready to go. He was on his way to the dining hall and when he entered, he saw an odd sight.  
Cole was sitting alone. Lloyd got breakfast and went to sit with him, slightly confused.  
“Hey.” He greeted the older.  
“Oh, hey.” Cole waved slightly.  
“What’s going on?”  
“Oh, nothing. Kai wanted to sit with his new girlfriend over there.” He smirked as he pointed with a thumb. He was correct, Kai was sitting with the red head girl, smiling and eating his food.   
“Skylor? Yeah, he told me about her. They’re not really a thing yet.”  
“Oh, really?”  
“Kai thinks they’re going to be but isn’t sure yet.”  
“Huh, well good for them.” The conversation ended and they continued eating their meal. Lloyd glanced over to Karloff who had his back to him. The guy seemed happy and he didn’t seem to sense the blonde’s stare since he didn’t turn around and look back at him. Lloyd just decided to look away and finish eating.  
Cole stared down at the table silently, just spacing out. The other wanted to ask him if anything with Jay happened, hoping for good news. However, he didn’t want to cause more issues since Cole clearly was already under stress. Neither of them said anything as breakfast ended and their day went on.  
Lloyd was alone for most of the day which surprisingly, didn’t make him bored. He went to bed by himself without a word. Though, it did take him a while to fall asleep.   
He tossed and turned and changed positions but he absolutely could not get to sleep. He exhaled, realizing how many thoughts were taking over his mind. He just had to get to bed.   
He thought about the elemental master’s recent loss, the unique Paleman. He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. He whispered some kind words of mourning into the still air, intending for them to reach Paleman wherever he ended up. He managed to hold back his tears and soon was able to finally force himself to pass out.  
The next few days were fine and actually had some rather good moments but that didn’t change the tense order. The more Lloyd thought, the more he noticed people faking smiles, hearing muffled sobs from the bathrooms, seeing people skip a meal or two. It hurt to watch but it gave him a small chunk of determination. He knew that they would get out. I mean, they had to right.  
The day after this short period was when Monokuma called all the remaining students to the lobby. At this point, they knew exactly for what.  
“Welcome back, everyone! Feeling good? Well, I don’t care. Anyways we’re here today to discuss our next motive!” Monokuma didn’t change at all. In fact if he did, he only became more cheerful.  
“Just give it up already.” Huffed Griffin.  
“As you wish, sir!” He cleared his nonexistent throat. “Your next motive is a big one! You might have some trouble sleeping after this one!”  
“What the hell do you mean?” Kai glared, squinting his clearly tired eyes.  
“There is a traitor among you, someone who works for me!”  
“We don’t even know if you’re telling the truth.”  
“Hey, I may be a bear but I’m an honest bear!”  
“That literally could be a lie too.” Tox crossed her arms.  
“Ugh, whatever! Believe me or not, that’s your motive!” He spat before disappearing as fast as he appeared. Everyone split, not caring to say another word. Kai jogged up to Lloyd.  
“Hey, bud.”  
“Oh, hey, Kai. Everything good?”  
“Heh, yeah.”  
“So, what’s up with Skylor?”  
“She’s really awesome.”  
“Getting anywhere?”  
“Oh, yeah.”  
“Does she seem into you?”  
“Totally, I think it’s gonna happen, dude.”  
“Wow, congrats, I guess them.” He cracked a pathetic smile.  
“Thanks, I hope everything’s okay for you.”  
“Well, okay is how I can describe it for now.”  
“That’s sometimes how it is. I’m gonna go train in my room. Find me if you need me, okay?”  
“Okay.” He waved slightly as Kai ran off. Lloyds eyes fell to the ground. Everyone felt so depressed, even the fiery Kai seemed kind of put out.   
The rest of the day consisted of Lloyd attempting to entertain himself with only some success. He slept alright after that boring day and woke up for breakfast again. He looked around the dining hall and thankfully all ten were still there. Dinner rolled around and the same amount remained, giving Lloyd some comfort. He was able to sleep even better that night. He woke up for another breakfast, gaining back a scrap of happiness. He sat with Cole like normal through the meal time. They met back up for lunch and soon, dinner.  
Lloyd plopped into his chair.  
“Hey, anything going on?”  
“No, what did you think?” It was the depressing truth but both were able to smile about it. They were there before most of the others and soon they came in as well. Kai stepped in and looked around but decided to just get his food and sit in his normal spot.   
Soon, everyone was inside the dining hall or so Lloyd thought. Both him and Cole continued talking until the younger noticed the other go oddly silent, glancing over to Kai.  
“What’s going on?” The green ninja asked, noticing his strange behavior.   
“Kai, he’s sitting along. Where’s Skylor.” Cole replied. Lloyd raised an eyebrow and looked over to Kai as well. Cole was right, Skylor wasn’t in her normal spot and when he looked around, he realized that she wasn’t even in the dining hall. His gaze turned back to Kai but looked past him. Karloff was missing too. He stood up, nearly falling. His gut was telling him that something was way off. He gulped, starting to shake.  
“Woah, is everything okay?” Cole asked softly. A couple other eyes fell onto the boy.  
“I-I’m fine.”  
“Lloyd, tell me what’s wrong.”  
“No, I’d rather tell everyone.” That comment gained almost everyone’s attention. The blonde cleared his throat before nervously addressing the room. “Guys, S-Skylor and Karloff aren’t here. They’re here everyday. Where are they?”  
The other elemental masters started looking around themselves, becoming more alert as nobody could find either of the aforementioned persons. They started standing one by one as well.  
“We have to find them!” Exclaimed Jay.  
“I’m right with you, Jay!”  
“Everybody, scatter, we can cover more ground like that.” Stated Neuro. Nobody argued with that and they split off, running as fast as humanly possible. Every single one of them knew that they absolutely had to find the two absent masters.  
Suddenly, a loud mix of a shriek and a shout came from the direction of the public activity areas.  
“Over here!” It was Griffin. Lloyd gasped to himself and sprinted over. Clearly Neuro was thinking the same and came up on Griffin’s other side.  
The master of speed had gone Pale, his knees threatening to buckle. The two males who had just arrived looked inside through the doors of the open workout room. A sickening sight of absolute shock horror was laid out right in front of the group.  
“A-Another double kill.” Lloyd stuttered, his hands shakily moving up to cover his mouth.  
“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a group trial will begin!” The now expected announcement echoed in the room and through the halls. A second one repeated as the other five people ran to the scene.  
“Holy shit.” Tox let out, not even stopping herself. It was a fair reaction to the splattered and pooling blood covering the ground.  
“Who would even do this?” Whimpered Jay.  
“The traitor.” Hissed Neuro.


	9. Nerves of Steel, Heart of Steel: Deadly Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may end up being particularly triggering. Again, you have been warned.

“Skylor, no! I-I can’t believe this! This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This is a fever dream!” Kai denied, grabbing at his hair.  
“O-Okay everyone, listen! Let’s all split up like normal! Cole, Zane, skip this one and go take care of Kai.”  
“Of course.” Zane agreed to the plan. Him and Cole walked off with the absolutely distraught Kai.  
“Guess that leaves me with you this time.”   
“Looks like it. I’m not the smartest though.” Jay laughed awkwardly.   
“Jay, don’t underestimate yourself. So what if you aren’t always the ‘smartest’? You know how to observe. You’re practically an engineer.”  
“Come on, man, now’s not the time to flatter me.”  
“I’m just trying to hype you up a little. We all know you’ll need it.”  
“Yeah you’re right.” Jay gulped after that statement. He nervously followed Lloyd into the room of death. One of the few workout rooms, this one normally used specifically for stretching and yoga but of course there were basic workout items like a couple treadmills, a rack of weights, and a single punching bag in the corner. Rubbery spongy mats laid on the ground, currently completely covered with now drying blood. The mats were water proof so the liquid simply remained on the top.  
“I think this is one of the worst scenes we’ve looked at.”  
“Seriously.”  
“Well, let’s start searching. We have to do this and we have to start somewhere.”  
“You’re closest to skylor, why don’t you start there?”  
“Alright.” Lloyd turned his head, looking down at the corpse. A wave of discomfort immediately flowed through his body. Her eyes were still open and were dull. The boy gulped but leaned down, completely used to inspecting bodies now.  
“Huh, that’s weird.” Jay suddenly spoke, breaking Lloyd out of his detective mode.  
“What’s up?”  
“The Monokuma file, it doesn’t have the time of death.”  
“Well then, that might be important.” He replied, looking back and gently grabbing Skylors wrist. “She’s cold and stiff, it’s at least been a while.”  
“Well at least we have that.” Jay crouched down to take a peek at the other body. The blonde decided to go back to his own inspection. He searched for a wound, not finding one until he moved Skylor’s bangs to the side, revealing a massive head wound, clearly blunt force. He cringed as the absolute gore of it. It was not only huge, but deep. No wonder why there was so much blood. He looked up and spotted a thin figure on a stool against the wall, almost in the corner and against the wall. He opened his mouth to alert Jay but before he could even let out a noise, the other boy spoke up.  
“There’s this weight covered in blood here, so we can say that’s the weapon, right?”  
“Yeah, that makes sense. Skylor even has a wound on the head that matches it.”  
“Well, it’s weird because there’s not one on Karloff. I looked everywhere but there’s not a real mark on him.”  
“That is weird, but who says that there isn’t internal damage.”  
“I guess but there isn’t even a bruise.”  
“Huh.”  
“What did you find?”  
“Just a wound and blood on the body. Well, there is something else not on the body.”  
“Oh, what is it?” Lloyd got up and walked over to the stool as an answer. Jay became curious and followed.   
“A laptop?”  
“Looks like it.” He picked it up and opened it. He attempted to turn it on. “Completely dead.”  
“I don’t even know if I can fix it.”  
“Let’s come back to it.” He put it down, the screen still open.  
“Alright.” The two boys left it, carefully stepping over the crime scene to get to the exit. “I can’t get it out of my head. Karloff was covered in blood but there wasn’t really a scratch on him.”  
“I can’t argue that it’s really weird.” Lloyd replied as they started down the hall.  
“It doesn’t make sense, even to me.”  
“Maybe that laptop will tell us something.”  
“Will, we don’t even know if it works anymore-” He yelped as he slipped on something, calling onto the floor, landing on his bottom.  
“Are you okay?”  
“Ow, yeah.” He looked around for what he slipped on. He spotted a small bottle and picked it up. He squinted at the scratched label. It now only displayed the chemical formula clearly. “C31H42N2O6?”  
“I wonder what that is.” The other said, tilting his head as Jay stuffed the bottle in his pocket.”  
“I don’t know but I should keep it for now.”  
“Sounds like a good idea.”  
“Anyways, I think we should check out the victim’s rooms.”  
“That sounds like another good idea.” He stood back up and brushed himself off. They swiftly made their way to the rooms, specifically focused on the ones belonging to the deceased.  
Lloyd gently put his hand on the knob of Skylor’s door, easily able to turn it.  
“Oh, not locked.” He commented as he pushed open the door. He flicked in the lights. It was kind of odd that they were off but it wasn’t a detail the boys were searching for. They entered and explored. Lloyd went around to the other side of the bed, wanting to make sure he looked everywhere for evidence.   
The only thing out of place was the open, messy closet. Perhaps Skylor just kept her closet like that but perhaps she was looking for something which would explain the scattered clothes. Lloyd looked through them, feeling as if he was violating the girl in a way, going through her personal items without her permission. Unfortunately, it was a part of the investigation and had to be dealt with so that everyone else didn’t die.  
To his disappointment, he found nothing of significance. Jay, leaving the bathroom, didn’t spot anything either.  
“Let’s go.” He encouraged, motioning to the door with his head. Lloyd agreed to leave and move onto Karloff’s room. The room Lloyd was outside of not many nights ago. He let out a shaky, somewhat hurt breath then gently opening the door to the second room.   
The lights were on in this one. The teens switched roles this time, Lloyd inspecting the bathroom again. He searched through cabinets, analyzed pipes, and even investigated the shower above the bathtub,   
He heard Jay suddenly let out a small noise from the other room, seemingly signalling surprise.  
“What’s up?” Lloyd asked from the bathroom.  
“I found something.” Jay answered. The blonde scurried over to see Jay standing over the left night stand. He was holding something indistinguishable until he came right up to his side, looking as well.  
“A journal?”  
“Yeah!”  
“I don’t know if I feel comfortable going through that.”  
“It might be the key to all this.”  
“But still, it just feels wrong, Jay.”  
“Alright, well, you seem to still really care about the guy.” He handed the journal over. “You should be the one to open it. Since it makes you uncomfortable, just flip to the last few entries.”  
“Alright.” Lloyd finally agreed. He flipped backward until he got to a set of two pages covered in pencil scratches. Karloff’s handwriting was sharp and triangular but was able to be read pretty easily. It honestly fit a guy like him.  
Lloyd whimpered almost silently before he began reading aloud, saying specific passages of significance.  
“Karloff gets food everyday as well as bed. Yet, Karloff still feels so upset and angry. Karloff can get the anger out by training but training doesn;t last forever. What if Karloff hurts someone? Karloff is very afraid that the anger will come out and make someone end up dead like Karloff’s other friends.”  
“Jeez, seems like the dude was struggling.”  
“Yeah.” He flipped to the very last page, the date was of the current day. “Hey, this last one’s from today.”  
“Well read it.”  
“Karloff got upset again but Karloff never cries! That means Karloff gets angry, though. Karloff misses the flowers outside. They’re still there but Karloff can’t touch them anymore. Karloff misses the flowers but would never tell anyone else that. Karloff is going to go work out to stop anger! Karloff needs it.”  
“Aww, the flower thing.” Jay would normally mock and joke about that but knew that it would be absolutely inappropriate. He didn’t say it but it was obvious that something inside him missed Karloff too despite never being close with the man.  
Lloyd of course picked up the thing about the flowers but clearly he picked up something Jay missed. Karloff had gone to work out today but never returned. Lloyd made sure to take note of that.  
“Hey, we should check up on Kai.” Jay said, looking away.   
“Yeah, that makes sense.”  
“I’m gonna go, you coming?”  
“Yeah, just give me a second.” Jay nodded in unspoken agreement and stepped outside. Lloyd made sure he was gone before he hid the notebook in his sweatshirt, then leaving.  
Soon, he caught up with Jay at Kai’s door. He knocked softly.  
“Come in.” Replied Zane’s familiar voice from the other side. The two ninjas entered, seeing the other three on the bed, Kai sobbing in the fetal position between Zane and Cole who were desperately trying to comfort him.  
“Any luck?” The green ninja inquired.  
“We should be asking you.”  
“Somewhat.” Suddenly an idea hit him. “Hey, Zane, can you help us?”  
“Help you? Sure.” He slid off the bed and stood up, walking over to the other teens who had just been rigorously investigating the murder of Kai’s girlfriend and Karloff. He was hopping into a new battle, much different from the one he had been dealing with in Kai’s room. “Lead the way.”  
Lloyd did so, leading him back to the crime scene. He carefully led him into the room, walking him over to Karloff first.   
“We were trying to find a wound on him and we couldn’t and so we jumped to the conclusion of internal damage. Can you scan for us?”  
“Of course!” The nindroid smiled, then turning and scanning the body. While he did this, Lloyd walked back over to the laptop which remained in the state that the two had left it.  
“Oh, he’s loading!” Stated Jay, listening to Zane’s systems working. He then woke back up, describing the status of Karloff’s body.  
“He died due to heart failure. His heart failed due to a poisonous substance in the body. I can sense it but I cannot sense what it is or how it entered Karloff’s body.  
“Thank you, now the second thing is this computer.” The youngest said, getting the other’s attention. Both made their way over. Zane looked the device over.  
“I think I can fix it.”  
“Great, but we don’t have much time-”  
“Investigation period over! Return to the lobby as per usual.” Monokuma’s voice echoed.  
“No!” Cried Lloyd. Zane picked up and closed the laptop.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll take it to the trial with me.” That wasn’t much comfort but it was something. All three glanced at each other then started to make their way down to the lobby, ready yet absolutely not ready for this trial.  
The group was now absolutely noticeably small, over half of the original competitors having unfortunately passed away.  
“Another double death! This is going to be an interesting one! Well, let’s go!” Monokuma seemed excited as he sent them down.  
Lloyd looked around the elevator, specifically laying eyes on Kai. Kai was shaky as he leaned against the wall, his eyes staring off downwards at nothing. His lip quivered, threatening to let out a whimper.  
There was a ding before Lloyd knew it, the doors opening. Another trial. How many more would there be?  
The remaining group couldn’t escape it though, they had to continue. The larger ratio of death portraits were a real motivator right now. The group trial therefore had to begin, to bring justice to the murdered innocents. The time was now.  
“Instead of talking about the weapon like usual, I say we start with the bodies.” Jay spoke up, somewhat surprising his former partner.  
“Oh, yeah. We found a couple of odd things with the bodies. I know you said that we weren’t talking about the weapon first but we know what it is and it feeds into the points about the bodies.” Lloyd explained. “The weapon was a weight covered in blood, close to both bodies. Skylor had blunt force trauma straight to the head, a huge wound matching the weapon. We know how she was killed and you would assume that Karloff was killed the same way, right? No, Jay couldn’t find a mark on him. We even had to get Zane to scan him over and there wasn’t internal damage. At least, there wasn’t any from something like the weight.”  
“What do you mean?” Asked Griffin.  
“I’m actually going to come back to that later.”  
“Well, what do you want to talk about next then? I thought you were gonna keep going.” Jay raised an eyebrow, motioning with his hand out of habit.  
“Something that I’m not sure you noticed.”  
“Something I missed?  
“Well, it’s kind of random but i found it odd. When we entered Skylor’s room to inspect, her light was off. However, when we went into Karloff’s room, the light was on.”  
“What’s so odd about that.” Questioned Tox.  
“Well, the light off suggests that Skylor was planning on being away a while. The light on might have meant that Karloff intended to come back right away.”  
“You can’t prove that though.”  
“Actually I can. Now, let’s talk about the rooms. In Skylor’s room, there was a huge messy pile of clothing on the ground right outside of the closet, suggesting that she went through it to find something.”  
“Work out clothing.” Neuro suddenly hopped in.  
“Actually, yes, how did you know?”  
“I may be the master of mind but I do not need any brain tricks to remember the workout clothing beside a duffle bag in the small locker room attached to the room of the crime scene.”  
“I didn’t even think to look in there.”  
“Well, you are very welcome.”  
“And I’m very thankful because that proves my theory!”  
“But what about Karloff.” Cole was curious about the other victim.  
“Okay, let’s move onto that since we’re starting to get an idea of what happened to Skylor. Karloff actually unintentionally gave us evidence.” He sighed, butterflies appearing in his stomach. He slowly took the journal out from his jacket.“I-I shouldn’t have taken this but I couldn’t help myself. On the last page, dated to today, Karloff writes about normal stuff and ends it with stating that he was going to work out since it helped him feel less upset.”  
“So you’re saying that this is a situation like the last trial.” Stated Griffin, gripping onto the railing of his spot.  
“We can’t exactly prove it yet but yes!”  
“So we have a basic timeline but what other evidence is there?” Cole scratched his head.  
“Actually, I have something.” Added Zane. He gently put the laptop down and opened it. “This laptop was found to the side on top of a stool nearby the bodies. It’s busted though but I believe I can fix it.  
“Can you fix it quickly?” Jay was anxious.  
“I believe so.” He looked up at Monokuma in his chair. “Do I have permission to leave and attempt to repair this computer?”  
“Permission granted! The curtain behind you is fine.” He motioned for him to go with his paw. Zane nodded and disappeared behind the curtain to go fix the computer.  
“Anyone else?” Cole inquired, looking for more evidence out of fear.  
“Me, actually.” Huffed Jay, absolutely not wanting to speak with Cole.  
“Well, you could have shared it already!”  
“I was waiting for a moment and didn’t get one until now!”  
“Wait, Jay, is it that thing we found in the hall?” Lloyd asked, interrupting their argument.  
“Yeah!” He dug it out from his pocket. “This weird little jar. The actual name was scratched off but the chemical formula is still on there. C31H42N2O6?”  
Tox’s eyes widened, fear striking her body.   
“Jay, that’s Batrachotoxin!”  
“What toxin?”  
“BTX! A dose the size of two grains of salt can kill you! You shouldn’t be handling that with bare hands! Hand it over.” Jay gulped, panicking slightly and clumsily juggling it to himself out of anxiety before finally handing it over. “Where the hell did this even come from?”  
“I don’t know, I tripped over it in the hall!”  
“You better wash that coat out after this!”  
“Jeez, I will!”  
“Wait, internal damage without the trauma that the weight could have caused. Could that mean the poison?” Griffin jumped back in with his appifanny.   
“But Karloff was covered in blood, how could it have been poison.” Cole tried to think it through.  
“What if the blood wasn’t Karloff’s? What if he got splattered with it during the attack?” Lloyd threw out his idea.  
“What do you mean?”  
“What if Karloff caught the killer in the act and got splattered. The poison could have been used to kill him afterwards. Zane said that Karloff died from heart failure so the poison could have easily killed him despite his size.”  
“Exactly, BTX causes heart failure and it’s a quick killer. Karloff wouldn’t have had to be given much to be dead in under ten minutes.” Tox stated from memory. That triggered something, making Kai speak for the first time since this trial started.  
“You seem to know a lot about this ‘BTX’.” He hissed.  
“I’m the master of poison, I have to know a lot about it!”  
“The master of poison handling something so potent and knowing exactly how much it takes to kill someone after someone was killed using it, how odd?” His tone was dark and somewhat growly. The way he spoke was almost disturbing.  
“Kai actually has a point there. You seem to know a lot about the poison.” Jay backed up his friend.  
“You guys seriously think I did this?” The girl shouted, flabbergasted at the accusations.  
“You have to admit that it’s kind of suspicious.” Said Lloyd.  
“Come on, there has to be something to back me up here. What about the time of death?”  
“It’s not listed this time.” Jay answered her question, pulling up his handbook again to check again.  
“What? But it’s been listed for all these other trials! What happened?”  
“What if it’s not listed, because it’s important?” Lloyd exclaimed.  
“The time of death is always important.”Neuro expressed.  
“But what if it’s a bigger piece of evidence than all the other trials we’ve been through before. What if we’re mistaken about the timeline?”  
“How could we be mistaken?”  
“Well we know the bodies were cold and starting to go through rigor mortis so we know that they were there for quite a bit. This means that this most likely isn’t why the time isn’t listed. It would be easy to track the signs back to the approximate time of death. However, the thing is, it would be a vague estimate.”  
“Uhh, english?” Requested Jay, absolutely confused.  
“I’m trying to say that the bodies are able to be tracked to about the same time. However, they could only be tracked to about the same hour or so.”  
“I think I see what you’re saying, Lloyd. You’re suggesting that maybe there is a gap between deaths.” Neuro said, looking for clarification.  
“Yes, exactly!”  
“But why would that matter?” Griffin was confused as well.  
“It matters because it could prove that Tox isn’t the killer.”  
“I understand now but how do we even know the time between the deaths? Like you said, it’s pretty much impossible!” Exclaimed Cole.  
“Well, first, let’s address the order of death. We know that Skylor was murdered first because of the blood splatter on Karloff. If Karloff were to be poisoned first, he could still fight his killer and there’s no signs of a struggle. You could say that he was disabled or restrained but there’s no marks or items suggesting that either. Therefore, we know that Skylor was killed first and then Karloff.”  
“That’s great, but we still don’t know the time between deaths.” Griffin sighed, losing a bit of hope.  
“I have a theory that the answer’s on that computer.” As the boy was finishing his sentence, Zane walked back into the trial room from behind the curtain.  
“Well, speak of the devil.” Cole said, a smirk of new confidence appearing on his face.  
“I got it working. It wasn’t really broken and was more dead. I was able to fix and charge it.” Zane announced.  
“Finally!” Yelled Jay in anxious irritation.  
“Monokuma, can we get the laptop connected to the screen?” He requested, pointing to the mounted TV screen.  
“As you wish!” He exclaimed cheerfully, allowing the nindroid to do so. Zane connected it and turned on the computer, entering the guest account, the only account, on the computer, left unguarded without a password. One file appeared on the main screen in the top right corner, a video file.  
“What’s that?” The youngest elemental master asked, tilting his head.  
“I don’t know, I was waiting to open any files until I returned to the trial.” Zane raised an eyebrow. The other boy nodded.  
“Open it.” The nindroid nodded back in confirmation and brought the mouse to the file in the corner. He took a deep breath before clicking on it. It took a few seconds to load before the final piece of damning evidence began to play.  
The video was clearly filmed using the built in webcam. Skylor’s body was partially visible. There was heavy panting in the background before Karloff walked into frame. He ran his hands down his face, stepping up the laptop and looking right at the camera.   
“Karloff- Karloff did something bad.” He stuttered before starting to pant again. “Karloff lost control! Mistake was made!”   
He seemed distressed. Blood covered his chest and cheek. He waited for a moment. He began to sniffle, holding back from sobbing.  
“Karloff didn’t mean to do it! Karloff just wanted to work out and feel better but he made a mistake!” He began shouting, upset at his own actions. “Karloff hurt Skylor. Skylor was a friend!”  
The tears started forming, shining in the lights of the work out room. He tried to hold back again but was starting to fail.  
“Karloff never wanted to hurt anyone but Karloff lost control! Karloff doesn’t know what to do! It’s too late to call for help.” He wiped his face as a single drop rolled down his cheek. “Karloff must pay for what he’s done!”   
The screen blackened for a moment, the audio still on. Footsteps swiftly left the room and returned just as fast. The screen lit back back up, the camera adjusting again.  
“Nobody will see this but Karloff loves you all. Karloff is sorry. Karloff now knows the rumors about him were right.” He lifted the bottle to the screen, it filled up unlike how it was found. He sniffed again before stopping his sobs, becoming serious. “Karloff will pay. Karloff will punish himself for Skylor.”  
The man attempted to get the top off, leaning off screen to do so and drink it. His rough gulps were audible through the speaker. He wiped off his mouth before putting the bottle down on the ground. He gave a long exhale, looking down with his hands in his lap, his leg bouncing anxiously.  
“Karloff doesn’t know how much time he has left but he knows there isn’t a lot.” He sniffled, whimpering as more large tears fell down his face. “Karloff is a terrible person. Karloff just wanted to make everyone else confident. All he wanted was to make others love themselves for them.”   
He had emotionally broken. The physical signs of damage were starting to show too as sweat started to mix with tears. His hand started to move to his chest and gently grab at his shirt.   
He suddenly stood, groaning and wobbling slightly. He stepped near Skylor, avoiding her bloody puddle. He whispered another sorry, barely audible. Karloff looked at the screen once more before it went black, suggesting that’s when the computer finally died. Not just the computer, but the unfortunate victims as well.  
There was silence. There was a mix of indescribable emotions. Lloyd glanced around. Some were crying, some were closing their eyes, and some had their jaw nearly hitting the floor.   
“Lloyd.” Neuro’s deep voice spooked him and judging by some other reactions, a couple others too. “Wrap this up like usual.”  
“You really sure?” Lloyd didn’t want to believe the video.  
“You know the answer better than I.”  
“Understood.” He cleared his throat, ready to finally summarize this headache of a trial. He took a deep breath and begam. “Skylor decided to go workout for a while, going through her clothing and getting a bag ready. She expected to be gone a while to train. Meanwhile, the killer was writing after feeling upset, deciding to work out as well. He expected it to be a quick session so he left with that intention. The killer ran into Skylor in the workout room. She greeted him and went to put her things down. The murderer didn’t change clothing so he just began working out. When Skylor left the locker room, she went to talk with Karloff. However, something went wrong. The killer snapped and hit Skylor right in the head, basically killing her instantly. They realized what they had done and found a laptop. They decided to film one last video, apologizing to everyone. In the middle of the video, the killer quickly left the room to grab the BTX, the poison and bring it back. They drank it and walked by the body. The computer died but it wouldn’t be long before they did as well, their heart failing and causing them to fall to the ground, essentially dead as well. The murderer also ended up the victim. We can conclude that the killer was at the crime scene the whole time until discovery, unfortunately dead along with the other. We can conclude who murdered both. The killer is… Karloff.”   
There was a long pause then there was a sudden bang, coming from one podium in the room. All eyes turned to the source, Tox. Her fists were on the railing and her head was hanging down. Her face was visible and it was scrunched up, teeth clenched. Tears of her own dripped down her cheek bones and fell onto the currently black voting screen as well as the floor. She let out a sob of internal agony before being able to speak again.  
“Damn it!” She swore, her shoulders shaking. “I can’t believe this! I refuse to believe it! Karloff, he was such a sweet guy! That man was tough but he would never hurt a fly!”  
“I didn’t think anyone thought of him like that.” Kai spoke up again.  
“Are you kidding? Everyone knew he was a good guy! Everyone knew he was a gentle soul!”  
“Clearly he wasn’t.”  
“Wasn’t? Are you that self centered? You never even talked to him! You never knew him! He was amazing!” The tears rolled down faster as the girl grew angrier.  
“Karloff could really be a sweetheart, he could just be hot headed.” Lloyd added, attempting to break up the fighting. Tox nodded with a sniffle, roughly swiping away her tears with her wrist.  
“I think it’s time to vote.” Sighed Cole. Everyone else seemed to agree. Their screens flickered on and everyone was able to finish voting quickly.  
The large TV screen above them turned on with the same slot machine visual from every other trial. The killer was proven to be the main suspect, Karloff.  
“I still can’t believe this.” Jay’s voice was weak and quiet.  
“I don’t think any of us can, Jay.” Lloyd frowned, seeing the horrible expression plaguing the other teen’s face. The blonde looked back to Monokuma, curiosity striking him and bringing life back into his eyes. “Hey, if there’s technically no killer, how can there be an execution?”  
“And where’s Zane-” Kai was interrupted by the bear.  
“Oh, there’ll still be a punishment.”  
“But now?” Lloyd raised an eyebrow.  
“We can always punish those outside of the game.”  
“Wait what do you mean?” He felt a wave of terror wash over him, seemingly for no reason but deep inside he knew something was wrong.  
“Puhuhu, why don’t I show you.” He laughed before that Cheshire grin he had grew wider. “Let’s give it everything we’ve got, it’s punishment time!”  
The mallet came down.  
Game over. Karloff has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
A gigantic television glitched to static before turning to what was obviously camera footage. The camera was facing the outside. It adjusted itself, finding a group of entities to focus in on, a group of people. This wasn’t any random group of people though, it was everyone the ninja knew. There was a noise as something was mechanically lowered from the ceiling. And soon it came into frame. The room was dark though, causing them only to be a shadow. A light turned on, revealing what or who it was who had just been placed in the room. It was Zane, his right arm being forced out and forced to reveal it’s rarely used weaponry, mainly a machine gun of sorts. The nindroid was trying to get away from whatever had been holding him, the thing that had lowered him in.  
“Zane!” Shouted the rest of the Ninja all at once. Perhaps he could hear or perhaps he couldn’t but he still tried to fight until he was pulled up again and fast, the video following him.  
A hatch at the top opened. The machery brought Zane to this hatch, his arm peaking out, obviously aiming in one area, looking at quite a few targets. There was a pause, giving the robot only a sliver of hope until his arm started powering up and began shooting, causing the group that the ninja knew well to look up before scattering.   
“Nya!” Yelled Jay.  
“Dad!” Screamed Lloyd.  
“Dareth, Doctor Julien!” Called Cole. Kai could only remain silent in shock along with the other elemental masters.  
Soon, no more targets could be found and the hatch closed, backing Zane up. He breathed heavily, stressed from the forced burst. He expected something else to occur but not what happened next. He was suddenly let go, dropped. He fell about the height of the entire building, soaring through about four stories before an ear piercing crash was heard.The camera slowly descended to the bottom, focusing on the mangled metal of what was once a wonderfully complex Nindroid. The image stayed for a few seconds before the screen it had all been viewed on turned off.   
“Zane.” Jay uttered his name, his eyes becoming glossy.  
“You won’t get away with this, there are people still looking for us!” Barked Kai.  
“Yeah, yeah do you think I’m that slow? Shut your trap already. Just because they’re looking doesn’t mean they’ll be able to help you.” He thought with a hum. “Speaking of which, why don’t I help you here. The traitor’s dead!”  
“What?” Tox half gasped. She was angry but also surprised and confused.  
“Yep! Could have been just now or all the way to the beginning. Guess you all didn’t even think of that. Anyways, you’re all dismissed.” He disappeared, allowing the group, one ninja short, to leave.  
Lloyd looked around at all his friend’s faces as the elevator ascended. Kai was just staring at the floor, crossing his arms tightly. Jay was shaking in the corner. Cole refused to look at anyone else, trying to look relaxed while also partially hiding his face which was obviously becoming wet.  
Everyone walked in their separate directions. Lloyd stood standing in the middle of the floor. He hugged the journal which he had returned to his jacket after displaying it during the trial. He felt the urge to cry in his throat but managed to hold it back, dry heaving quietly for a second before being able to pull himself together again. He looked up again, scanning around. It had become dark out during the trial and the lights were on now, giving off an odd almost disturbing feeling like a liminal space or something of the sort. He wanted to stay but he also wanted to just sleep. He wanted to go to bed and never wake up but he knew that wasn’t a reasonable request. He managed to get his legs moving, walking him slowly in the direction of the rooms.  
As he got closer he heard yelling again. This hadn’t been uncommon the last week and a half or so.Yet again, it was Cole and Jay.  
“You’re the reason Zane got killed!” Cole spat.  
“Would you rather we all die? There was no other option! It pisses me off that you think that I don’t miss him!” Jay argued back.  
“You sacrificed our family!”  
“You’re as dumb as rock if you think that I knew that would happen. Oh, wait, you are.”  
“You’re disgusting! You got Zane killed just for what, Nya’s love? You didn’t deserve it before and you sure as hell don't deserve it now!”  
“He would smack you if he heard you using his name to manipulate me!”  
“Manipulate you? I’m telling you what happened and why you’re the problem.”  
“I’m the problem? At least I’m not a psycho-”  
“Just shut the hell up! God damn it!” Lloyd shouted, interrupting their fight. Both boy’s gaze snapped to the blonde, having almost never heard him actually swear.”I can’t take this anymore! Our best friend is dead and all you can think about is yourselves! Zane would be ashamed if he was here right now! He’s the only one who knew how to break you guys up and if I have to step in his place and do it my way then so be it!”  
Neither of them said anything as Lloyd panted after his emotion filled rant. He started dry heaving again before he just gave up and entered his room. He slammed the door behind him and flopped on the bed, causing the mattress to bounce.  
He started whimpering, then he started crying, and it wasn’t long before he started sobbing. The sobs began quietly and spiraled into concerning screaming sobs though thankfully, nobody could hear him inside his room. Tears rolled down his entire face and soaked into the pillow below.  
He was sad and then he got angry. He shouted, throwing his pillow against the wall, beating his pillow as if it had done something wrong He punched the wall, thankfully causing no damage.   
The teen, an emotional wreck, started to feel weak. He had used up all his energy grieving the loss of one his closest friend, one of the only people he considered family. His legs trembled as he walked to bed, lying down and holding himself, squeezing his eyes shut. He internally begged that his fantasy of never waking up would come true but he had a feeling that absolutely wouldn’t happen.  
He closed his eyes, sniffling softly as sleep soon took over. The last image he saw before going out like a light, was Zane. Zane with his hand out, a smile on his face, his entire aura was inviting. However, that would no longer be a reality. Lloyd finally understood what true loss was and why some people can never get over the grieving stage. Maybe Zane didn’t have a soul but he sure manufactured himself one and that’s all that mattered. All that mattered was that he was a good soul.


	10. Last Place Winner: Daily Life

He barely managed to wake up and get out of bed. If he wasn’t starving from skipping dinner, he wouldn’t have absolutely just stayed under the covers and slept.  
The grieving boy groaned softly, not even caring to clean himself up. The most he cared to do was glance in the mirror, seeing some dark spots popping through to say ‘hi’. He pushed his hair to the side with an annoyed grunt as he left his room and made his way to the dining hall.  
He was the last to breakfast. Grabbing his bowl of what seemed to be a chicken broth soup and sat with his friends. The group of elemental masters had grown so small that they were only separated into two groups now, both speaking in more hushed, relaxed voices so as to not annoy the other.  
Lloyd sat down across from Cole and Jay who were forcing themselves. They were both silent which wasn’t ideal but at least they weren’t arguing.  
“Where’s Kai?” He asked, looking back and forth between the other two.  
“Don’t worry. He just needs some time. We checked on him before he came and he just wants some time alone.” Explained Cole.  
“It makes sense. His girlfriend and his best friend were killed on the same night. Not to mention the guilt he must feel about Karloff.”  
“I can’t even imagine what’s going through his head.” Jay seemed less energetic before. He seemed so perseverant until now. It made sense though, he was hurting and badly too.   
“Hey, at least we know our friends are okay, they could have been way more unsafe.”  
“I know.” He turned his head to the other table. His mind started drifting off, distracting him from the current subject. “I wish I had something like them.”  
“What do you mean?” Questioned Cole, trying to lean and look at what he was looking at as well.  
“Neuro and Griffin, they’re so different but they’re so close and so good for each other. They keep each other happy. It makes sense that it works though. Neuro is an overthinker, but he soothes and calms but Griffin is fearful and jumpy but remains cheerful and spreads it.”  
“You explained it so well.” Lloyd was actually somewhat impressed.  
“Like you said, I observe. They would be so good together.”  
“You mean you want them to date?” Cole raised an eyebrow.  
“I can see it.”  
“No way.”  
“I guess he has a point. As long as they’re safe and happy.” The youngest hopped back into their conversation.   
“I guess that’s all we can really ask for.” Jay finished up his soup. Cole had finished his as well but Lloyd was still poking at his.  
“It’s tough now but we can’t give up yet.” Cole tried to uplift him. Lloyd just sighed.  
“I just can’t stop thinking about it all.”  
“None of us can.”  
“I miss him so much already.”  
“We do too.”  
Soon lunch ended, leaving Lloyd to walk around on his own, contemplating everything all over again. He did this the entire day until it ended. He returned to bed and slept again as a form of escapism.  
Thankfully, the next morning when Lloyd returned to the dining hall for breakfast again, Kai was sitting there with his other friends however, he had no food. Lloyd still understood though and went to sit down.  
Kai had dark circles under his eyes and he had lost a little color. He seemed more tired than Lloyd had ever seen him.  
“Hey, Kai, you okay?” He asked out of concern.  
“I’m fine.” He replied in lethargic irritation.  
“We’re still hurt too, alright? It’s gonna take a while to heal.” There was no response to that one. At least Lloyd wanted him to take basic care of himself. “Hey, at least eat something later, okay?”   
“Yeah, Kai, we really want you getting sick, especially now.” Cole added. There was still no reply but they decided to take it as a yes unless he didn’t eat  
Another day passed by insanely fast despite also feeling so slow. Lloyd had been keeping an eye on Kai on and off. He ate nothing for lunch but thankfully ate at least something for dinner though it was only some spinach and a dab of dressing.   
The only thing that went by faster than the day was the night. This cycle of being so quick yet so painfully lengthy continued for another few days until they’re weekly spice of the motive was given out.   
As normal, everyone was called down to the lobby to get the motive. When Lloyd looked around, he was disturbed at how small the group was now. Seven, there were only seven now.   
“Alright, time for another motive! I think this one will be a good one!” Announced Monokuma.   
“Just spit it out.” Growled Tox, as obviously tired of this as everyone else.  
“Jeez, someone’s grumpy. Anyways, here’s your next motive!” He gave himself a vocal drumroll before finally saying it. “Whoever is the blackened will get to leave with one other person of their choice!”  
“Is that all you have to say to us.” Griffin seemed just as agitated as the girl.  
“Wow, everyone seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. But, yes, that is your motive. I wonder how everything will play out this time.” He laughed as he disappeared. Everyone else waited to see if he would return but separated only seconds after.  
The blonde boy hugged himself, holding onto his own arms out of fear in an instinctual attempt at self comfort. Nobody would kill this time, right? I mean, everyone was so close now, they all knew each other. Nobody could even bring themselves to kill someone else at this point. Lloyd tried to convince himself.  
The boy was so shaken up that he couldn’t eat lunch but at dinner he managed to loosen up and eat. Thankfully, Kai was able to eat now too. In fact, it seemed like tonight, he was eating a little more than usual.  
“Hungry?” The younger asked with a smile.  
“You could say that.” His tone was still a little flat, but he at least seemed better.  
“Heh, well eat all you want, it’s all free.”  
“Seriously, how is Monokuma able to get all these different foods? They’re all pretty good too.” Jay commented.  
“I don’t know but does it really matter?”  
“Yeah, I guess not.”   
Soon, everyone was done and went off to bed after talking some more after their meal. Lloyd was finally able to smile to himself again, feeling like Kai was getting better and that everyone was a little happier again. That night, he was able to sleep soundly.  
The morning started off just as good, everyone coming to breakfast. Kai decided to skip again but that was okay with the others, he had been taking care of himself again and perhaps he just wasn’t all that hungry.  
Another nice breakfast complete and hopefully, another nice day complete soon. All he had to do was hold out for the entire day.   
There was a pleasant transition into continuing daily life, finally able to hold a real conversation with Kai. They spoke, cheering each other up and cracking jokes until lunch where both boys sat with the other two, continuing to remain positive. Everyone parted ways once the meal was done.  
Everything was going smoothly and in fact, seemed even better than normal. It made Lloyd feel safer and more at home. Maybe they really did have a chance to escape. And even if in the worst case they didn’t, Lloyd still had all of his remaining friends to keep him sane.  
He walked around the halls, a small, uncontrollable smile on his face, the first time he had looked like that in weeks. He was hopeful and his hope brought happiness. Finally, he felt some sort of peace despite still being trapped. It felt like nothing could ruin this feeling and almost nothing could. Not everything could just pass by him, though.  
He continued down the hall until he heard a loud noise, causing him to raise his head up and listen in surprise. It was a feminine scream but it was obviously coming from a male body. He recognized that scream anywhere.  
“Jay!” He called out, begging internally that he was okay. He rushed towards the source, his adrenaline fueling him to get to his friend faster. He soon spotted his figure down the hall. He started yelling to get his attention. “Jay what happened-”  
He skidded to a stop, cutting himself off once he saw what had disturbed the other. There, in the middle of the hall was a body, a body bleeding and causing a puddle to form. It was lying on its front and it was obviously one of the elemental masters. Griffin, Griffin was the next to be killed.   
Lloyd ran to the body, sliding onto his knees. He felt his wrist and his body relaxed in disappointment.   
“He’s warm but barely. He’s completely gone.” He stood back up. It turns out someone else had heard the scream and was on their way. Their footsteps rushed to the hall. “Neuro.”  
“What’s going on?” He stopped in front of the other two males. Lloyd stepped to the side so he could see the deceased as well. Neuros' expressions dropped into horror. He began shaking slightly and put his hands to his mouth but they quickly dropped. He ran to Griffin’s body and kneeled down, hugging him. He looked down at his now cracked red glasses before just holding him tightly. “Griffin, no! I’ll send whoever did this to you straight to hell!”


	11. Last Place Winner: Deadly Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains serious gore and body horror. This is the last trigger warning, thank you.

“Oh my god.” Whispered Jay. He didn’t know what to do. The usual announcement of course played as it did every time.  
“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a group trial will begin!”   
“I’m so sorry, Neuro. We’ll find who did this.” Lloyd tried to comfort, understanding the man’s pain. Neuro stood, brushing the small bits of blood he had gotten on him off.   
“Do not apologize, Lloyd. We must move on so we can get justice for him. Griffin needs to be put to rest by discovering his killer!”  
“I’m happy that you’re still up to help us. Please don't strain yourself on this one though.”  
“I’ll attempt not to.” Voices started coming down the hall after he responded. They were muffled, being at a distance.  
“Over here!” Shouted Lloyd, helping the others find them.  
Once they arrived, they all became just as shocked as the ones who had first discovered Griffin’s body. They were becoming afraid and upset. Someone had to step up and help but Zane, the logical mediator, was gone which was perhaps the reason why everyone was so riled up. Lloyd thought for a moment before stepping forward and speaking, addressing everyone.  
“Guys, I know this is really stressful, and we’re in a really tough situation but we have to stay as calm as possible. There’s going to be a trial again and we need to be prepared. Everyone should split up like normal.”  
“But Cole wants to go alone. Someone’s going to have to go alone too.” Jay observed.  
“Yeah, I wanna search myself for once.” Cole added on, speaking for himself.  
“Then I will.”  
“Not to say that you’re unable, stupid or anything like that but are you sure you can handle it?” Cole was concerned.  
“I’m sure, I’m ready to handle something like this on my own.”  
“Alright, we’ll still be around the area.”  
“I know, I’ll come to you guys if I need help. I know there’s a killer among us but I trust you, I trust all of you.” He turned to face everyone again. They seemed to understand. They knew it was hard to trust anyone now but the confidence Lloyd held in them fueled them. Everyone nodded and motioned to him in agreement before splitting.  
Lloyd waited for them to leave before turning to the body again. He had to help Griffin despite him no longer being alive. He had to expose his killer for the sake of him, for Neuro, for everyone.   
He checked the monokuma file. No time or cause of death listed. He knew from the warmth of the corpse that he hadn’t been dead for too long, most likely within the past few hours. He went back to the body, ready to inspect. He was now on his back due to Neuro’s hug. He noticed something, a splotch of blood on his white outfit. While he was lying on his front in a pool of his own blood, there seemed to be an epicenter where it was coming from. Lloyd felt bad for having to open up his shirt without permission but he had to in order to understand better. He whispered a quick apology before opening up the shirt, revealing a huge wound surrounded by many large bruises of many different colors. Black, blue, purple, red. It was one of the most disgusting scenes that the boy had seen yet. He made sure to note the odd, revolting wound and state of the body.   
Before he got up, he also noted Griffin’s cracked glasses. Perhaps it was nothing but it was worth it to check before moving on. He stood and noticed an odd smell. Not bad but strange. It couldn’t have been Griffin, he hadn’t been dead for that long. Yet, the scent seemed to come from that direction. Despite his stomach screaming for him to just leave it, he had to lean by down. He reluctantly sniffed the body. He could still smell it, but it wasn’t coming directly from the corpse. He was confused but then he sniffed the puddle of blood next to him. He jumped back, his eyes watering as he coughed violently.  
“Jeez!” He exclaimed through his coughing attack. That was definitely the smell. He stood back up with a stumble and decided to move on. He had to get away from that smell but he made sure to keep note of that too.  
He continued on. He walked passed the body into the intersection of rooms ahead. There were three. He tried the one to the left. It was locked so he tried the one on the right. It was also locked. His only option now was the door right ahead in the middle. He was ready for it to be locked as well but instead, this one was open. He turned on the lights so he could at least see and inspect the room.   
It was a music room, filled with instruments and other things used for musical creation. Lloyd’s mind immediately drifted to Jacob. The master of music that he never knew well. He missed the man though. He had this spark to him, this vintage aesthetic and laid back attitude.   
The blonde had upset himself, thinking about the deceased all over again. Despite it causing him to become upset all over again, it also fueled him to keep going. He felt as if he had to defend those who had passed in a way, he did.  
It took a few deep breaths but soon, the boy actually stepped inside and began walking around and exploring. It didn’t feel as bad once he actually began searching. He was fine until he tripped on something right under the piano, falling against the same wall the corner of it was against. He shook his head then turned around, looking at what he had tripped on.  
The item was a metallic silver and definitely metal from what his foot told him. It was hollow too, a pipe. Lloyd crouched down and pulled it out from under the instrument, realizing how long it was. He pulled out the end and his heart skipped for just a second. The end of the pipe was covered in blood. The blood was in thin layers, though, causing it to already be dried.  
Obviously, Lloyd jumped to the conclusion that this was the murder weapon but he knew something was wrong. How would this pipe cut Griffin open like how Lloyd observed. It wasn’t broken or rough so how could it have been the weapon?  
All he could think to do was one more thing. He slid the pipe to the dried end and held it up to his nose. He sniffed it. All the pipe smelled of was blood. He paused for a moment, processing his new find before standing up and moving on.   
Perhaps the pipe was used for something else. It couldn’t have caused that wound so maybe, something else did. He knew exactly where to go to look for something like that.   
He sighed and went on his way, stepping over his body with another soft apology before continuing to the one place where he absolutely knew he could find a weapon that could cut and slice. He made his way to the kitchen.  
It unfortunately took the boy a little while due to where the body was located in proximity to the dining hall and therefore the kitchen.  
He entered and immediately began his search. He was hellbent on finding the real weapon or at least what it was in his mind. He went straight to the knife rack. One missing. Lloyd managed to crack a small smile, feeling proud that he was correct. He knew from past experience to check the sink. Low and behold, there was the bloodied knife in the sink. He picked it up to inspect and did the same thing as he did with the last suspicious item. He sniffed the blood and it was just the same, completely fine and nothing abnormal. The blonde was obviously still confused but he at least was somewhat satisfied now. However, now a new question was poking at his mind. What about all those huge surrounding bruises? What caused those if the knife was the weapon.”  
He knew he had to move on but he continued contemplating the knife and the pipe. He began walking past the fitness area when he did a double take. He spotted Tox and Neuro leaning over something in the small gym between two other fitness rooms, one of which Skylor and Karloff had been found in previously. That trial still really stung but he didn’t have time to think about it. He walked into the gym and up to the two older elemental masters.   
“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” He asked curiously.  
“We just found something and both of us think it’s the weapon.” Tox replied, pulling out a baseball bat. Lloyd looked from the top down, his stomach dropping when he saw the end of it. It was bloody as well.  
“I thought I found the weapon.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I’ll explain at the trial. But that’s definitely important.” Another weapon? It did explain the horrifying bruising on Griffin. Things only got more confusing. There was still the unexplained wound being opened in such an odd manner.   
He looked around for another moment before walking out quietly, his footsteps being the only audible noise coming from him as he left.   
His mind raced. Maybe he should check the dorms. There would only be five to inspect anyways. Would he even have time for that though? Would it even be worth his time? What if he found nothing? On the other hand there was the chance that the biggest piece of evidence in one of those rooms.  
Lloyd was so distracted by his thoughts that he tripped over the garbage can right outside of the boys public restroom by the dorms, the same restroom and trash can from that night where he helped Karloff. His friends Shade and Bolobo were also found dead there. Lloyd could never go into that restroom again without a heavy feeling weighing on his chest. He looked away from the door with a sorrowful sigh and turned his gaze to the trash can. His mood and expression immediately changed. He was suddenly confused again, observing what was in the garbage. Glass, clear colorless glass. There were at least two bottles worth of glass. He picked up a handful of shards and knew what he had to do. He took a whiff and started coughing, dropping the glass back into the bin. It was almost the exact same smell from the body excluding the metallic scent of the mixed in blood. The odor of flesh and fluids made it much worse but it was still very powerful. He made sure to remember it, having a feeling it would be important. It just had to be. However, the kid had to move on. Not only was he running out of time but he wanted to simply get away from that.  
He walked quickly down the hall. He could only think of one more public place and it was thankfully right down the hallway right past the dorms, the trash room.   
He entered and immediately smelled the trash in the main dumpster but was grateful that he wasn’t overpowered by the strong scent that haunted his nose after smelling it.  
He jogged to the dumpster and threw the top open. He managed to hop up and climb high enough so that he was able to look around the entire inside of the dumpster. Despite how many different types of infectious bacteria and viruses were most likely living within the garbage, Lloyd reluctantly used his hand to search through, only having the guts to use one, though.   
Unfortunately, he found nothing. He basically completely defiled his hand with the rubbish for no reason. He sighed, giving up for just a second but he swiftly came to a realization. There was a room right next door, a room that could easily be used to hide evidence.  
He rushed out the door and into the one directly to the left. The room that could destroy something extremely important, the furnace room. He looked all around having never been in this room. After getting a good look of the area, he continued on his way, going straight towards the open and currently unlit furnace.   
This furnace wasn’t for heat since there was a functioning electrical system for that. This furnace was a larger one used to burn garbage.  
Lloyd stared at it curiously for a second. He put his hand inside, making sure to touch none of the metal to avoid a burn. However, there was no heat radiating from inside. He built up the courage to touch the side and it was cool. If it was used within the past few hours, wouldn’t it be at least warm.  
He noticed something in his peripheral vision, something black on the floor. He turned his attention to the distraction. It was a small pile of charred items. He went over and crouched down. The moment he put his hand near, he realized the floor was warmed. He pulled his hand away and raised an eyebrow and waited a moment before reaching for the objects once more.  
It only took a minute to identify every item. There were three large corks as well as several scraps of completely charred fabric. The corks were in good condition, only covered in a layer of black. The fabric, however, was completely ruined. The ground was completely covered in ash.  
Ash. Another painful memory hit Lloyd. Ash, someone he considered a friend was murdered and he had to see his body. He missed the guy.  
With a shake he stood up and turned away, not wanting to be reminded again. He looked up from the ground and spotted a grey metal cabinet on the wall. He walked over and opened it. His eyes bounced up and down.  
It was all items for the furnace. A dustpan and brush, cleaning solution, a small fire extinguisher, and lighter fluid. However, what didn’t make sense was that there was no lighter or anything to start a fire. The furnace was manual and not connected electrically so they would need something to set a fire.  
Lloyd suddenly jumped, Tox and Neuro unexpectedly entering.  
“Oh, sorry, Lloyd.” Tox apologized.  
“It’s fine, you just surprised me.” He forced a laugh and he put a hand to his chest, feeling his heart beat quickly.   
“You came to check here as well?” Asked Neuro.  
“Yeah,” He thought for a moment then replied with another question in response. “Actually, have you guys seen the lighter or whatever it is for the furnace.”  
“Oh, yes, my bad.” The other male dug in his pocket, pulling out a grey grill lighter, ironically matching his every day outfit. Lloyd went over to pick it up.  
“Thanks.” How he was really confused. Was Neuro the killer? No, he would have to be stupid do something so obvious and the master of mind would be no idiot. Plus, why would the killer just take the lighter? Wouldn’t they want to keep the lighter inside the cabinet so it looked untouched?  
“I was using it to light candles in my room. They help put my mind at ease. My apologies if it caused you any troubles.”  
“Oh, no, it’s fine!” Turns out the timing of this conversation and small discovery was just perfect.   
“Investigation period over! Return to the lobby as per usual.” Monokuma announced as he did every trial.  
“Ah, if only we had more time. Come along to the lobby with us, we will meet up with the others there.” Invited Neuro. Lloyd agreed and followed them to the lobby. The other three elemental masters came in all together as well, the two equal sized groups meeting up in the middle.  
“Everything go well during the investigation?” The youngest asked.  
“Yeah, we all ended up grouping together to search not too long before we were called down.”  
“I guess I can say the same thing happened to us.” As soon as Lloyd finished his thought, Monokuma popped up.  
“Wow, small crowd!” He commented in his normal energetic tone. Everyone just looked back at him. The bear said nothing but seemed a little upset that nobody really reacted. He just decided to move on and send them down to the trial room  
The remaining six went down, the elevator feeling slower. There was a killer among this small group and it could be anyone. There was a better chance of survival, however it was also the most terrifying factor. One of the people around him, someone he trusted, was the killer of Griffin.  
Lloyd closed his eyes, the faces of the rest of the deceased flashed in his mind. Gravis, Chamille, Paleman. He had to fight for them even though they were long gone.  
The elevator dinged.  
“Woohoo, trial number five!” Announced Monokuma ecstatically. “Come on, come on, I’m excited for this one. Everyone stepped into the trial room, going to their assigned spots, used to this routine by now. Death portraits surrounded each person.  
Lloyd didn’t even realize it but he was sweating. He didn’t know why but he was more stressed than normal, his stomach in knots. Perhaps it was because he was pretty clueless as to what was really going on in this case or maybe because the thought of the betrayal of one of his close friends was revived in his mind. There was nothing he could do now, though. He had to go through with it. They had to go through with it and the trial needed to begin.  
“This sounds weird but let’s talk about the victim first.” Jay suggested.  
“Why would we talk about the victim, we all are aware that Griffin was the victim of this brutal murder.” Neuro stated in return.  
“I’m not talking about the who, I’m talking more about the why.”  
“We know the why. The ‘why’ is the motivation Monokuma gave us.” Tox threw in.  
“But why specifically Griffin?”  
“The killer probably didn’t even care, they just killed whoever they could.”  
“Actually, Jay has a point.” Cole hopped in, defending day, proving that their friendship was mending quickly. “Griffin is the master of speed, why would someone pick him of all people?”  
“Maybe it was someone he trusted.” Kai added.  
“Well, he trusted all of us, we all trusted each other.”  
“Well maybe, it was the one who he trusted the most.”  
“Are you suggesting that I would ever intend to harm Griffin?” Neuro snapped.  
“It does make the most sense.” Jay came back into the conversation.  
“Actually, go back.” Lloyd requested. “Cole was right about one thing, he was the master of speed. If someone attacked him, even if it was Neuro, couldn’t he just speed away? I know he wasn’t a genius but he’s an elemental master. He knew how to fight.”  
“I can vouch for that. Griffin was never above average in intellect but I had watched him. He knew how to fight and his mind worked extremely fast when it came to battle. It was like when he used his power, it also sparked something inside his brain.” Neuro described.  
“Yeah, sometimes the guy would jump before I even touched him if I was trying to put my hand on his shoulder or something.” Tox added on, strengthening Neuro’s point.  
“But then how was he killed?” Kai questioned.   
“Well, I think that’s why Jay avoided the murder weapon first.” Lloyd rubbed the back of his head.  
“What do you mean? The weapon was the baseball bat we found in the gym!” Tox stated.  
“Seriously? What about the knife in the sink?” Jay shot back.  
“What’s wrong with both of you? The pipe in the music room was obviously the weapon.” Argued Cole.  
“Actually, I found all three and something weird too.” Lloyd said, stopping the verbal scuffle before it went further.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I went to inspect the body and I smelled something weird. I couldn’t figure it out until I smelled the blood. It didn’t really smell like blood, it smelled really gross.” That was the only way he could think to describe.  
“What did it smell like?” Kai was not curious.  
“Just gross, like out of date food.”  
“Like expired almonds or rotten eggs?” Tox tilted her head.  
“Both! That’s exactly how I’d describe it.” Her eyes widened at that response.  
“That’s poison!”  
“What?”  
“It’s a mix of both cyanide and sulfur dioxide!”  
“So he was poisoned.” Concluded Jay.  
“But that doesn’t explain the brutal wounds.” Lloyd thought aloud.  
“Could have happened after death.” Cole proposed.  
“I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.”  
“What tells you that?”  
“I don’t know but something in my gut tells me.”  
“Actually, I agree with Lloyd and I have the evidence to back him up.” Tox announced.   
“What is your evidence?” Neuro was intrigued.   
“It’s obvious, I’m surprised you didn’t even bring it up. The blood smelled. If he was poisoned, it wouldn’t have had a scent and if so it wouldn’t have been that strong.”  
“I actually found that quite odd myself. I thought you would know more about that though.”  
“Yes, and even if there was a smell, it would come from the mouth or wherever else it was administered.”  
“Then he couldn’t have been poisoned!” Exclaimed Lloyd. “I started smelling something so, even though it was gross, I crouched down to look for the smell. When I sniffed the body to see if that was the source, the poison scent was still there but not very strong. I sniffed the blood next, confused and I immediately started coughing.”  
“Next time, maybe don’t try to snort the poison. However, it is gross but it was a good idea to try to find the source.”  
“But that doesn’t solve how he was killed or who killed him.” Kai brought up.  
“You’re right, Kai.” Lloyd replied. “Then can I talk about something I found related to the poison?”  
“Sure”  
“While I was going around searching for evidence, I tripped over the garbage can by the public toilets. When I turned around and looked in, I saw glass. I was curious and decided to take a sniff, it was the same strong smell.”  
“So those must have been the broken poison bottles. The killer must have tried to get rid of them!” Jay said, his idea being obvious but correct nonetheless.  
“But now that I think about it, that wasn’t the only evidence I found related to the poison.”He rubbed his chin lightly. “It was in the furnace room next to the dumpster room.”  
“It?” Tox questioned, tilting her head and furrowing her brows.  
“Actually, they.” He corrected himself. “Next to the furnace were the charred remains of some sort of fabric as well as three corks.”  
“Three but weren’t there only two poisons?” Cole was confused.  
“Maybe there was another addition with no smell.” Tox suggested.  
“I am more confused about another detail Lloyd shared with us.” Neuro pointed out something which caught his attention. “The charred remains were outside of the furnace. What reason would the killer have to remove them?”  
“I don’t know. What’s weird is that we know this murder took place within the last few hours. The furnace would have been hot if it had been used but when I went to check, it was just basic room temperature.” The boy answered.  
“I see why this is important but my mind is still stuck on how someone would have even attacked Griffin.” Jay returned to that argument. Everyone paused, unsure what to say. None of them had any idea as to how someone could complete the task. Cole soon spoke up again, getting a small idea.  
“What if they subdued him first?”  
“But Lloyd said that the wounds most likely happened after death. There was no sign of poison in his system either, so what happened?” The master of lightning’s point gave Neuro an idea of his own.  
“Perhaps the attacker was lucky and managed to lay a hit on him and basically leave him for dead or something was used to subdue him.”  
“What are you suggesting?”  
“I am suggesting that Griffin was drugged.”  
“But if it would be hard to poison Griffin, then it would also be hard to drug him wouldn’t it?” Kai scratched his head.  
“Neuro has a point!” Lloyd defended his proposition. “Griffin could have been drugged. It would be hard if it was forced but what if it wasn’t? What if he was tricked?”  
“You’re onto something, Lloyd.” Cole exclaimed excitedly.  
“But how would he have been tricked?” Kai asked another question.  
“Does it matter? The ‘tricked theory’ makes sense and as long as we follow that lead, there’s no need to know the specifics. In this case, they don’t seem important.”  
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Lloyd tapped his chin. “So let’s continue with that theory. So at this point, Griffin was drugged and the killer attacked him. The question is, what was the order and what was the actual murder weapon?”  
He looked around as everyone gave each other looks. They were about to argue about it all over again. He wished that he had Zane to help him again but of course, he was alone on this one. At least, he thought he was alone until Neuro spoke up to be the mature logical mediator.  
“Alright, we should use our brains here. You're lucky I used mine when it came to analyzing the body.”  
“Oh yeah, you stared at him for a while. I was actually worried for you.” Tox replied with a tone of concern.  
“Yes, of course I am still hurt but that is why I analyzed so closely. Anyways, I believe I know the order.”  
“Explain.” The blonde wanted to know.  
“The wound bled severely despite not being majorly deep however it was open but in an odd round fashion, partially healed by the flesh since it was still alive. Why would the cut bleed so much though? Well the answer is in the order. Baseball bat, knife, pipe.”  
“When you explain it like that, it makes so much sense.”  
“But why would they use multiple weapons? Why rip up the body after it’s dead?” Jay inquired, genuinely finding it disturbing.   
“The same reason why the poison was dumped out around him, so it would be hard to figure out what really killed him.”  
“So we know the order, we know the weapon, and we know how Griffin was caught but what does that tell us about who the killer is?” Kai seemed to become more impatient with each of his questions.  
“You’re right, Kai, we still need to figure out who the killer is.” He stopped for a few seconds to process the evidence he had found during the investigation time. “Can we go back to the furnace room?”  
“The furnace room? We already talked about what was in there, though.” Cole raised an eyebrow.  
“No. Well, let me rephrase that. Yes, but not everything.”  
“Okay, go on then.”  
“So the items I talked about from before were beside the furnace. The three corks that we just talked about, and the burnt fabric which obviously couldn’t give us any leads. What’s odd is the state they were in. They were charred, which makes sense for being the furnace room. However, what’s weird is that the char was on the ground, as if it were burned there. The furnace wasn’t even warm so there’s no chance that it was burned in there first then dumped on the ground.”  
“So they burned it beside the furnace, so what?” Kai seemed to be growing more irritated by the moment.  
“Well that’s a problem. Why, you ask? There’s a cabinet in the wall by the furnace. It holds all of the items someone would need to operate it. Except, it wasn’t holding everything. The furnace is manual so there would have to be some sort of thing to light it up. There was meant to be a lighter but I couldn’t find it. That’s when Neuro and Tox came in as well, so I asked them. Neuro was the one who had the lighter but that doesn’t make sense! How would the killer burn the items without the lighter and not even in the furnace?”  
“Neuro’s the killer, duh!”  
“I’m gonna have to agree with Kai there, why would Neuro have the lighter that you can’t use the furnace without?” Jay was right to be skeptical but Tox shot back at him.  
“It wouldn’t make sense for Neuro to be the killer. Griffin was Neuro’s best friend, why would he kill him?”  
“Obviously to leave.” Kai spat. However, he missed one factor which the girl was able to point out with ease.  
“If Neuro was the killer, he would want to kill someone so he could pick one person to leave with. Why would that person not be Griffin of all people.” Kai was caught on that one.  
“But if Neuro’s not the killer but he had the lighter, then who burned the evidence and with what?” Cole tapped at his chin, becoming more nervous slowly.  
“They could have used the over or the stove top.” Jay tried to come up with ideas, getting stressed as well.  
“That doesn’t make sense, though. The ash was on the floor in the furnace room, clearly it was burned in there!” Tox exclaimed, her instead getting angry.  
Everyone began arguing as Lloyd spaced out, just thinking and thinking. He was attempting to process this confusing mess. He nearly gave himself a headache until he came to a conclusion. A singular dark conclusion and one he could only think of from experience. He looked up at his best friend with widening eyes before addressing the room, stopping everyone from arguing.  
“What if they didn’t need the lighter?” It felt unreal to let that sentence leave his mouth. It hurt but it made sense and it was his only theory.  
“What, how?” Jay asked in an anxious shout.  
“Because they could act as their own lighter.” His head shakily turned back to Kai and soon everyone’s followed.  
“W-What?” He stuttered, feeling his heart drop.  
“I’m sorry, it’s the only theory that makes sense.”  
‘You’re wrong! I’m not the killer, I’m a ninja!”  
“Kai, please.”  
“It would be wrong for me to harm someone innocent!”  
“Perhaps you perceived Griffin as guilty.” Neuro crossed his arms, his voice getting deeper with his growing mix of heartache and anger.  
“You, shut up.” He suddenly snapped back.  
“Kai, why? Why would you even kill? Why would you kill Griffin?” Lloyd felt himself becoming more and more upset, all his pushed down emotions coming to the surface.  
“I didn’t! Lloyd, you’re wrong!”  
“Why would you lie to your own brothers? Why would you go out and hurt someone? You didn’t have to!”  
“God damn it, I didn’t kill Griffin!”  
“I don’t want you to be guilty! Please, prove me wrong!”  
“Seriously, who would waste something as powerful as cyanide, sulfur dioxide, and alprazolam.”  
“Wait, what was that?” Lloyd perked back up, life returning to his eyes.  
“Didn’t you hear me?”  
“Oh, I heard you alright. I think I listened to you better than you listened to yourself.”   
“Lloyd, now you’re just being cocky.”  
“I don’t think I am. Now repeat that list again.”  
“Like I said, who would waste cyanide, sulfur dioxide, and-” He stopped himself, his voice trailing off. He realized his mistake as soon as he repeated the list. The tables had turned now, Kai becoming the fearful one.  
“That’s what I thought you said.”  
“Wait, no, it was just a mistake!”  
“I guess you can say that. Though, it’s specifically a ‘freudian slip’.” He said stone faced, a smirk forming after.  
“Then it all makes sense! Alprazolam refers to sedatives, that’s how Griffin was slowed!” Tox jumped up excitedly.  
“Exactly!”  
“No, you’re wrong, you’re wrong!” Shouted Kai in denial, starting to panic.  
“Are we?” Neuro raised an eyebrow, a growl audible in his voice.  
“No, this is a lie! It’s all a lie! I was framed!”  
“I think we can wrap this up.” The blonde said with a nod. Everyone else agreed, the two non-ninja grinning along with him. The boy inhaled, ready to speak before being interrupted.  
“Hold it! You can’t seriously believe this, right? How are you all so- so dumb?” He hissed loudly.  
“What?”  
“You’re all believing this lie! How can you all not see it! Do you guys really believe this crazy theory? Even the master of mind seems to be having a brain fart.”  
“Kai, what’s gotten into you-”  
“Rage! You’re all so stupid! You’re all so wrong!”  
“Kai, please calm down, we can talk this through!” Jay tried to step in with good intentions. He was immediately shot down though.  
“Oh shut up, Jay! You never have any real input!”  
“Stop, you’re causing more problems than we already have!” The youngest cried out, trying to get him to see how awful he was being.  
“You’re even worse, Lloyd! You always hop into things like you’re always in control! You’re never in control, you’re just over confident! You’re not a leader!” That genuinely hurt. At first it felt like a bullet to the heart in sudden shock sadness. Next, though, he was angry. Kai had a fire burning inside him constantly but so did Lloyd except he had a flame of pure, unfiltered energy.  
“If Wu knew you would do this then he would have never made you a ninja. You were already jealous of me being the green ninja but just imagine if Nya took your place as even just a ninja, you would have lost it. Maybe I don’t deserve to be a leader but maybe you don’t deserve to be a ninja.” Kai was taken aback by his sudden rant. He went silent, just trying to process what had just happened. He wanted to say everything yet no words were able to be formed. He was stunned silent.  
“Holy shit, Lloyd.” Whispered Jay, swearing.  
“Now, I think we’re ready to wrap this up, agreed?” Nobody objected so Neuro spoke up.  
“Go on, we’re ready.”  
“Good, let’s begin.” He prepared for his rant with a deep breath of renewed pride. “Griffin was exploring the halls as anyone else who was bored and trapped like us would. Unfortunately, the killer was exploring the halls as well and found their victim. The murderer knew that they couldn’t just kill Griffin that easily, so they came up with a plan. They grabbed sedatives and somehow tricked the victim into taking them. After they were sedated, the killer grabbed the bat and beat them to death but they had an elaborate plan, not willing to risk getting caught. They grabbed a collection of items to help cover up what really happened. First, they used a knife they grabbed to cut Griffin open. Next, they used a pipe to widen the wound, so it didn’t appear as just a slit. Lastly, they poured out two bottles of poison to throw off the investigation more. However, that wasn’t it, they now had to get rid of the evidence so they hid the items around. The bat was returned to the gym, the knife was put in the sink, and the pipe was hidden in the nearby music room. After that, they broke the glass bottles that the sedatives and poison came in and continued on to the furnace room. They knew the furnace was manual so they went to find the lighter to activate it but it was missing due to Neuro using it in his room at the time. While it did stop them for a moment, it gave them the idea not to use the furnace since it could be used as evidence. So the killer placed the items next to it instead and burned it using their elemental powers. In the process they had gotten blood on their shirt so they placed it in the burning pile as well as the corks of the three bottles. The shirt burned however, the corks only charred since they had no idea that they don’t just burn. The killer must have been interrupted since they didn’t get rid of the remaining evidence on the ground. Most likely with the short timeline, they were interrupted by the body discovery announcement. With little to expose them but the small shred of damning evidence, we’re able to tell who the killer is, the only one who could have burned the evidence without a lighter. The killer is… Kai, Kai Smith!”  
There was a long pause. The air was tense and all eyes had returned to the murderer. There were a range of emotions on everyone else's faces.  
“Well, what do you have to say?” Cole asked, crossing his arms. He wanted an explanation and honestly, the rest of the elemental masters wanted one too.  
“I- I can’t do this anymore.” Kai’s tone started out as if he was going to go on another rant but his voice just trailed into defeat.  
“So you admit that you are the killer?” Neuro asked, staring daggers at him.  
“I can’t hide it anymore. Yeah, I did it.”  
“But why?” Jay cried, so confused as to why his best friend would do something so morally corrupt.  
“Why do you think? We were handed a motive.”  
“But if you didn’t kill anyone then we could have still had a chance to escape all together!”  
“Would we? Jay, this game was going to keep going. I figured that if I could just end the pain and still escape with someone, it would be better for everyone.”  
“So you watched to get us killed?” Screamed Cole.  
“It would be better than you having to suffer this cycle all over again. Do you think that I would just be fine with letting you all die without reason? I care about you guys! I didn’t want you to suffer anymore.”  
“Was my summary correct?” Lloyd changed the subject, now having understood the motive.  
“Yeah. I didn’t pick Griffin for any specific reason. I felt terrible but I thought I knew what I had to do.”  
“How did you trick him into taking them?”  
“I said they were vitamins and that I had been taking them for a few days. I told him how much they helped me but it was a complete lie.”  
“Did you drug him to keep him still or so his death would be painless?”  
“Both. It would be hard to get him if he was able to be as fast as he usually was. I also realized that he wouldn’t feel the pain. Yeah, I killed him but he was my friend too.”  
“If you weren’t discovered then who would you have even left with?” Jay spoke up again. He was starting to find hiding his sadness difficult.  
“I love you all but Lloyd. It is my duty to protect the green ninja and he’s the key to saving Ninjago. I’m sorry.”  
“You didn’t have to do this! We could have escaped! We could have all left and mourned Zane!” He snapped, shouting as the tears flowed.  
“What if we didn’t? I didn’t want you to hurt! I love you guys so much!” He was having trouble holding back his own tears.  
“You’re going to meet the same fate as Zane, don’t you see what you’ve done?” Cole was getting emotional too.  
“Kai, please, you never had to do this! You should have talked with us!” Lloyd sniffled.  
“You would have all lost trust in me.” His tears finally rolled down his cheeks. “This was a form of protection. It was wrong but it was the best way I could do the best for you all!”  
“Now you’re going to feel the pain and suffering, your plan backfired!”  
“I can see that. I deserve it though. I murdered someone innocent, I failed as a ninja. I failed as your protector.”  
“Kai, you’ve never failed us as a ninja! You’re still a ninja. Your heart is in the right place and you were willing to die for us.” Cole replied, hiding his face.  
“My plan was ridiculous, Jay is right. I’m willing to take the bullet for you guys so you can escape and survive.”  
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry Kai, please don’t go, I didn’t mean that!” He sobbed, his cheeks turning red.  
“Speaking of which, Lloyd.” He turned to face him, looking in his eyes. “I didn’t mean anything I said in the heat of the moment.”  
“I didn’t mean what I said either.” He got out through dry heaves.  
“And Griffin,” He addressed, getting his attention and making eye contact with him as well. “I’m so sorry, I know how much you cared about Griffin. I know you were hunting for the killer. You wanted them dead, so I’m willing to die as punishment.”  
“I forgive you but I am unsure if Griffin would. I would like to assume so, though.” He responded.  
“I know you guys were close and I should have thought about that. You were closer than friends and two cared for each other. He wasn’t even your best friend, he was beyond that.”  
“And I loved him.” He whispered softly. Kai had no response to that. His heart could only weigh heavy out of guilt.   
“Please, Kai, please say this is all a sick joke.” Jay sobbed again, obviously not taking this well.  
“I’m sorry, Jay. And I’m sorry Cole and Lloyd. And I’m sorry to Zane, he would have been ashamed of me.”  
“Don’t say that!” Cole snapped, everyone finally seeing his wet face. “Zane would have never been ashamed of you!”  
“I have failed you all and I need to face the consequences. Now vote. Vote for me or we’re all screwed.”  
“I don’t know if I can do it.” Whimpered the blue ninja, soaking up his tears with his sleeve.  
“You have to. I won’t be mad! I’ll never be mad at you for doing the right thing!” The voting screen popped up as he spoke. Everyone voted, the ninja doing so hesitantly. Immediately after voting Jay sprinted right to Kai, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him close. Kai felt unworthy at first but soon moved his own arms around the other. Lloyd came next and then Cole. They just had a silent moment of mental agony.  
The group turned as the screen turned on with the same old slot machine visual and of course, without fail, the three pictures of kai lined up. They had been correct.  
“Please, Kai, fight it! Fight your execution!”  
“I can’t. I don’t care about myself getting punished, I worry about you.”  
“I wish we would have been wrong.” Murmured Cole, looking away.  
“Oh, Kai, you should have told me how you were feeling. This could have been avoided.” Lloyd whined, his throat becoming painful as the muscles tightened as he cried.  
“I know, I really messed up.”  
“Please, Kai, if there’s any way that you can stay, please!”  
“I’m sorry Lloyd, I love you, okay? Remember, all of you, I love you.” He looked at the other remaining two in the trial room. “And Tox, Neuro, thank you for being great friends. If I see Griffin, I’ll tell him you said hi.”  
Kai laughed sadly. Neuro did something unexpected of himself.   
“I hope you have a safe trip.” He replied, a single tear falling. Kai sniffled with a smile before finally facing Monokuma.  
“Alright, Monokuma, I’m ready.”  
“Wonderful.” His grin seemed to get larger. “Now, let’s give it everything we’ve got, it’s punishment time!”  
“Goodbye, Kai.” Lloyd managed to get out before the button came out and the hammer came down, sentencing Kai to his punishment.  
Game over. Kai Smith has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
Kai stood in the middle of a dried field, looking around at his surroundings. Dark clouds swiftly moved in. The dead crops spontaneously lit up with flames. The flames surrounded Kai in a circle. They became larger and brighter as they quickly closed the gap between them and the boy. He, though, was unphased being the master of fire. However that didn’t quell his sweat as the fire started licking his skin. The rain started, coming down and making the blaze hiss. Thunder and lightning began, causing Kai to sweat even more. The lightning struck loudly in the distance. Something fell on his head, heavier than the droplets of rain. He looked down and spotted two metal rods with round metal balls at the end. He picked one up in each hand confused. He held them by his sides but the fire was close, touching the metal. They started heating up, eventually starting to burn his hands. He yelped unexpectedly and raised his hands to the sky, unable to keep them at his sides anymore since the fire was so close. It was getting to the point where his clothes were beginning to singe then char. He suddenly realized his mistake, looking up. There was one more lighting strike, landing on the rods and going through his body. Kai fell to the ground, his eyes closing in dizziness but they never opened. The flames around him still roared and burned but his flame had been put out.  
The screen finally turned off, going black. Jay was still crying silently. Cole stared at the ground solemnly. Lloyd felt his heart drop as he started shaking. Neuro looked away. Tox had her eyes closed, feeling terrible.  
“Boohoo, what an unfortunate trial.” Mocked Monokuma.  
“Shut the fuck up!” Jay suddenly snapped. Everyone looked up, not expecting him to yell like that.  
“How rude!”  
“You killed our best friend, my best friend! You murdered everyone we cared about because you pushed them to the edge! You pushed them so far that they hurt others. You should be the one to die!”  
“Should I? I don’t know about that one.”  
“Stop, Jay, you’re going to get nowhere. He’s trying to make you upset.” Cole tried to calm him despite feeling internally enraged himself. Jay managed to stop himself, sniffling. The bear giggled at them before disappearing, allowing the group back up to the surface.  
The elevator ride was dead silent, a heavy air surrounding them. Despite never getting to dinner, nobody wanted to eat. They all had lost their appetites, especially the remaining ninja.  
Lloyd went straight to his room, unable to anything else but crash in bed and cry. He cried until his sobs became screams of mental agony and anger. That anger boiled over and he began throwing things as he shouted. He was in so much pain and currently it was too much handle. He just had to physically let it all out.  
Once he finally managed to calm a little, he looked around at what he did. The room was an absolute mess which only overwhelmed him more. He had to leave and get away from the emotional filth he created. He opened the door with a frown on his face and looked outside and saw Jay and Cole in an embrace.  
“Hey.” He greeted softly, waving at them. Cole perked up and turned his head to face the green ninja.  
“Oh, hey.” He returned the greeting in an equally unhappy tone. “Are you okay?”  
“I think. It just hurts so much, I don’t know how to feel. I feel awful too because I wasn’t this upset when Zane died.”  
“Hey, it’s alright. Zane is a nindroid, we can maybe build him again. Kai, can’t be rebuilt, though.” The comfort meant for Lloyd only caused Jay to weep harder. Cole rubbed his back gently in response.   
“Sorry, Jay, I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He sniffled before looking from Cole’s chest. He looked awful. His eyes were puffy and his face was red.  
“I’m fine, it’s just a lot to take in right now.”  
“I understand. I had a huge emotional session in my room just now.”  
“We’ll never be the same without them.” He whimpered before his eyes became wet again.  
“I know, I know, it’s hard right now and you’re right, we’ll never be the same without them but we can still fight in their names. No matter how many of us are lost, we’re still the ninja and we still have our pride.”  
“Are we really the ninja, though? Lloyd, we won’t be nearly as strong. We’ll never be resilient like we used to be. Not to make things darker but we’ll honestly probably end up meeting the same fate as them.” Though he gave a disclaimer, Jay had surprised him with how disturbing that comment was. However, the truth was that things could really go that bad.  
“Then we’ll have to keep practicing until we find the power to fight with the extra strength of their souls.” It was complete made up bull crap but it still made some sense as proven by Jay and Cole nodding.  
“You’re right. We can’t grieve forever.” Cole sighed.  
“I don’t know if I can do it.” Whispered Jay. It was clear that Lloyd wasn’t the only one having emotional issues. The other two were suffering the same pain but were letting everything out in different ways.  
“I’m sure you can.” Lloyd started hyping them up, knowing that now, he would really have to take his sudden role of leader seriously. “We’re all hurting like hell, even Neuro and Tox. We have to get over this hurdle though. We’ll never forget Kai and Zane but at some point, we do have to move past them.”  
“I know, I just feel like I can’t do this anymore. I want to just give up.”  
“Don’t!” He exclaimed, worried that Jay was suggesting something on the more extreme side. “Please, Jay, we have to keep going. It’s what they would have wanted! They wouldn’t want you to give up! Do you really want that stupid bear to win?”  
“No.” He sniffed as he shook his head.  
“Then you keep fighting with us and for them.” That short statement was oddly powerful. Jay managed to stop his full on crying episode and he even cracked a smile. Cole gave him one more pat on the shoulder before letting him go.  
“Thank you, Lloyd, I needed to hear something like that.”  
“You’re welcome. Remember, I’m not just your leader, guys, I’m also your best friend, alright? We’ll get out of this together.”  
“I hope, don’t make false promises, okay?” He laughed sadly.  
“I can’t make any promises but I think that we’ll escape.”  
“It’s okay not to be confident in this situation, Lloyd. We were confident when we started and we obviously know how that went down. Everyone’s unsure about what comes next.” Cole stated, using his logical side and powering over his pain.  
“You’re right. I just wish I could be confident.”  
“We all do, don’t feel bad.”  
“I’ll try.” He let out a sigh. “I’m gonna go to sleep. You two should get rest too.”  
“It’s gonna be hard but we’ll try.”  
“Alright, goodnight.” He spun around and went back to his door.  
“Goodnight.” Cole gave him a small wave as he entered. Lloyd crashed again. His energy had already been drained but hyping up his friends took even more out of him. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the time or energy for them, it was just that his emotional outburst almost sucked everything out of him.   
He just decided to give in and plop into bed. He pulled the sheets over himself. He pulled his blanket close and wrapped his arms around it, still seeking comfort. His heart ached badly. It was to the point where he was unsure if he would ever recover despite telling his friends that they would. He didn’t want to be a hypocrite but he couldn't be sure that anything could ever truly return to normal. His racing thoughts eventually fully drained his physical battery, finally allowing him sleep.


	12. Inside the Mind of a Master: Daily Life

He woke up the next morning, wondering if it was a dream. He knew it wasn’t but deep inside he hoped. He stared at his covered feet for a few seconds, his head immediately filling with thoughts again. He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of the constant noise of stress. He had to get up though, so he got ready and left the room, his melancholy expression refusing to fade.  
Once loyd arrived, he noticed everyone sitting at one table. For once he truly realized how many had died. The cafeteria was once full of life and friendship but now it was hushed and empty. The realization only saddened him.  
“Hey, are you coming?” Asked Jay gently, snapping him out of his despairful thoughts.  
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” He responded briefly. He walked right past the food and sat in the one seat saved for him right between the two remaining ninja and across from the other elemental masters.  
“Hey, come on, get something to eat.” Cole attempted to encourage him to get some food so he wasn’t left starving.  
“No thanks.”  
“Come on, man, you know that’s not good for you.”  
“I think I’m gonna be sick if I eat. I’ll try to keep something down later, okay?”  
“Fair, sorry, I don’t mean to be annoying.”  
“No, no, you’re right.”  
“Just take care of yourself, dude.” He gently patted his back. Lloyd nodded as he zoned out, still consumed by his thoughts. He basically missed the entirety of breakfast and got up, just leaving and going on a long walk afterwards. The boy had no other ideas as to what to do. All he could do was walk and think. At this point he was beginning to get another head.  
He pretty much skipped lunch as well and was only able to stomach a bit of food at dinner. He wasn’t really hungry but ate anyways, knowing he would feel worse tomorrow if now. Though, this didn’t change the fact that everything still just felt wrong, like everything just felt empty and dull without Kai’s presence. All he could do was crash in bed early and contemplate. Then after that all he could do was cry until he inevitably fell asleep.  
Crying himself to sleep didn’t make him feel any better the next morning. Despite having slept a good amount, he felt tired. He managed to get up and go to breakfast, finally eating some more.  
Lloyd was alone most of the day again but at least he was eating some food at every meal now. He noticed something throughout the day, though. He felt something weird in his stomach. Not a pain or a nauseous episode, but a sensation. Something emotionally connected, a sensation in the same group as butterflies when you’re nervous or a knot when you feel stressed but it was neither of those. It was something Lloyd had never quite felt before but he ignored it, chalking it up to his grief.  
The day ended almost too quickly and Lloyd got back into bed except this time he experienced the opposite of the night before and was unable to sleep for a couple hours, just staring at the ceiling, feeling empty. Of course, he did fall asleep but the next morning wasn’t anything to be excited about.  
He was tired but at least he was no longer getting weak from hunger and today, was finally able to eat something of substance. It was hard to consider what he ate good for a growing boy like him but it was definitely sufficient for the day. However, the sensation in his stomach was only growing. He considered that the sudden changes in diet could be a factor but again, his stomach wasn’t upset.  
He attempted to ignore it all day, continuing on his way. He finally decided to become more social again which helped him cope. He was doing better but was still miserable and his stomach wasn’t getting any better either.  
Dinner was fine but everything still felt off and today for some reason, even more so than usual. He however, said nothing, continuing to fake being fine. He finished up and went straight to his room, just deciding to have alone time until bedtime.  
The next morning, though, felt the worst. Mentally and physically he felt better but his stomach was almost overpowering. He forced himself to go to breakfast anyways, knowing that he would need the fuel.   
Lloyd sat at his normal table, everyone doing their normal things. It seemed, though, that everyone else was feeling a bit off. He attempted to brush it off as continued mourning as he began eating his meal.  
As he ate, he felt the sensation his stomach start to rise to his throat but now he knew it wasn’t vomit or even a burp. He now figured out what it was. It was anger, it was grief, it was vengeance. It was everything he had been holding back but now it was all boiling to the surface. He managed to swallow his food before it finally all came out.  
He stood and slammed his bowl onto the table, gaing everyone’s attention. They were all watching in surprise.  
“I can’t do this anymore!” He yelled. He had finally burst.  
“What the hell do you mean?” Responded a shocked Cole.  
“This has gone on long enough! It’s time we end this!”  
“End what?” Tox gulped, confused and honestly kind of afraid.  
“This killing game! We’ve lost enough people!”  
“How would we even do that?” Squeaked Jay.  
“Monokuma!” He called in a scream.  
“Yes, young Master Lloyd.” He replied sarcastically, appearing seemingly out of nowhere as he normally did.  
“I demand that we find out who’s behind all this! We’ve had enough!”  
“Enough you say?”  
“Yes and you better not fake us out!”  
“I would never!” He acted overly shocked but then returned back to a somewhat serious tone. “Alright, you want to find out all the secrets of this place? Fine, then you have to investigate and find out for yourself. We’ll have a trial afterwards.”  
“Deal!”  
“Well, I guess I’ll see you back at the trial room again, puhuhu.” He laughed, disappearing as fast as he appeared.  
“Dude, can we really do this?” Asked Jay, insecure in his investigatory abilities.  
“Yes, I believe in you! I believe in every one of you!”  
“What information will we get from places we’ve already been?” Tox asked, throwing out a genuinely good question. Lloyd was about to answer when seemingly on cue, Monokuma came over the loudspeakers.  
“This is a tournament announcement, all rooms will now be unlocked and available for participants.” The loudspeaker shut off with a crackle.  
“Well that solves our problem.” Commented Cole. Lloyd nodded.  
“Now everyone split up! Look for whatever evidence you can! I’ll be bouncing around from person to person.” Everyone agreed with the plan and split up, going on their ways.


	13. Inside the Mind of a Master: Deadly Life

Lloyd took a deep breath before rushing around, looking for someone and hoping that they had already found something. He kept going until he skidded to a stop, spotting a door that he had never seen or at least, was never opened but looked like every other door so it was skipped.  
He tilted his head slightly, walking into the door. The room was cold, nearly freezing. He shivered for a second and walked over to Neuro.  
“What is this place?”  
“I was asking the same thing but I think I have an idea.” His voice was stone and serious. He pointed up at what seemed to be a set of shelves except they weren’t shelves. Lloyd didn’t know this though and was confused as his eyes jumped to each drawer, each having a symbol on some sort of slip of paper taped on it.  
“I don’t understand.”  
“Well, would you like to pull one open or would you prefer that I do it?”  
“When you say it like that, I think you should open it.” Lloyd really didn’t like that question, it made him anxious.  
“As you wish.” He gently wrapped his fingers around the handle and slowly pulled. The boy’s eyes widened as he saw a human figure.  
“Holy crap, this is a morgue!”  
“Correct. Sorry if this brings you painful memories but something tells me this place is going to end up being important.” Unfortunately, it was bringing back painful memories but he agreed with Neuro, it would probably be important.  
He shakily looked down. This one seemed to belong to Camille. Neuro closed it but opened another.  
“Who’s that?”  
“Skylor.” He replied, suddenly gasping softly, almost inaudibly.   
“What’s wrong?”  
“I never knew she had that.” Lloyd came over to see what it was looking at. Her top had slipped down from her shoulders due to handling and it revealed something on her back. It was a tattoo, a snake tattoo.   
“Woah, I never realized she had that either.”  
“Hmm, odd.”  
“Yeah.” He started thinking. Now that he was looking back on it, Skylor seemed normal as anyone else on the outside but little was known about her despite how friendly she was. If only he could ask Kai about her now.  
“I will continue searching here, you move on.” Neuro snapped him out of his flashback.  
“Oh, great! Scream if you find anything groundbreaking.” He said back before turning right around and running off, barely getting a wave as he sped away. He kept going, running around the halls until he came to a large door which was open. That for sure was never open before, it was almost impossible to miss.   
He walked in, seeking Cole leaning over a book. The book was sat on a desk, clearly expensive due to its quality and decorative detail work as well as it’s shiny gold paint on the accents. A leather rolling chair was behind as well as several bookshelves.   
“What is his?” He asked, making Cole jump a little unexpectedly.   
“Some sort of office. Just a guess but I think it’s the mastermind’s.”  
“Yeah, that would make sense.” He walked up to the desk, standing next to him and glancing at the book. “Hey, what are you looking at?”  
“Some sort of record book. All of us are in it.” He flipped through a few pages while talking, stopping at one. “Huh, that’s weird. This is Skylor’s.”  
“What’s so wrong about it?” He scooted in, looking over the page. Cole pointed to the discrepancy.   
“It has her last name.”  
“I still don’t get it, what's so weird about that? Doesn’t it have all of ours?”   
“Chen, Skylor Chen. Doesn’t that name sound familiar?”  
“Chen? Are you trying to make connections here? I’m sure there’s a million people in ninjago with that same last name.”  
“I don’t know, man, I just thought it was strange.”  
“Well, I mean, we do have to check everything.” He looked away to his left, spotting something on a small table against the wall, under a basic painting you would see in an office like this. He squinted and floated over to it. He realized what the item on the table was. It was a picture in a frame but not just any picture. He picked it up and analyzed it.  
“What?” He let out.  
“Huh? What’s wrong?” He walked over to him, leaving the book open on the desk  
“It’s a photo and my dad’s in it.”  
“What?” He leaned over to check it out.  
“Exactly.” He moved it so Cole could see. It was a picture of three people, all male. Sensei Garmadon was on the left. “Wait what about that guys?”  
Lloyd watched as he pointed to the man on the right. He tilted his head and thought for a moment until he came to a realization.  
“I think that’s the guy who helped us onto the ship! Actually, I’m sure it’s him. My dad seemed to know him!”  
“Then who’s the guy in the middle?”  
“I have no idea actually.” He admitted, looking the unknown man up and down, attempting to identify him. “Man, if I could ask my dad right now, I would.”  
“Don’t worry, we’ll see your dad soon.” Cole gave him a pat on the back before returning to the middle of the room. “Well, I guess I’ll keep searching in here.”  
“Alright, find me if you need anything.” He said before turning around and running out. He went into the lobby, which wasn’t very far from the office, and suddenly skidded to a stop, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to back wall where Monokuma normally was when he sent them down to the stupid trial room. However, he noticed something now, a simplistic mural on the wall. Though, it could barely be called a mural since it was one color and one image lacking complexity.  
It didn’t catch his eye due to the color though, it was the design that made him stop. It was a snake but that wasn’t the strange part. The snake was positioned almost identically to the one on Skylor’s back. He made note of it and continued running.  
He almost fell when he stopped this next time. He was distracted by noises coming from the dining. He decided to step in and check it out. There he saw on the ground surrounded by a mess of metal, tools, and debris.  
“Woah, what’s all this?”  
“Oh, I didn’t see you there, Lloyd.” The blue ninja replied, leaning so that he could see the other boy.  
“What are you even doing?” Jay stood.  
“I was searching around then I realized that we have no idea where the food comes from or why it tastes so familiar. So, I decided to do some digging.”  
“Jeez, all that practice on the junkyard really did you some good, huh?”  
“Yep!” He led him into the kitchen. He pointed to the ceiling with his screwdriver. Lloyd followed with his eyes to a pipe in the ceiling which Jay had obviously deconstructed. “See that? That’s where all the hot water was coming from for the soup. I also found some ingredients for the different meals we have in here but oddly enough, I found way more food behind that conveyor belt for the food.”  
“So food was never made in this kitchen?”  
“I don’t think so unless it was made by one of us. That explains why it’s always so clean.”  
“That’s really weird.”  
“Yeah, not only that but I was looking at the conveyor belt mechanism and it’s really similar to one I’ve seen before but I can’t put my finger on where.”  
“Aren’t all conveyor mechanisms basically the same?”  
“Over all, yeah, but I’ve seen this specific one before. Dang it, I wish I could remember.”  
“Don’t get so mad at yourself, Jay. You made some good discoveries! Keep going until we have to go to the trial, okay?”  
“Understood.”  
“Great, see you, Jay.” He replied before dashing off again. He ran around for a while, just looking for more evidence as well as the last person he needed to check in on, Tox.  
He kept going until he spotted an odd cold tone light coming from a room in an odd, almost hidden room. He stepped inside and saw Tox looking at a set of screens, many screens. It was obvious that this display was the source of the dim light escaping.  
He stepped closer until he realized why she was so captivated by the screens. His own jaw dropped slightly as he scanned them with his eyes. It was all live video, still being recorded now. He saw the video from his room, then his friends rooms, then the dining hall.  
“Holy crap, this is where we’ve all been watched this whole time.”  
“Crazy, right?” Responded Tox, just as flabbergasted.  
“Wow, I knew we were being recorded but I never realized how crazy all this really would be.”  
“Yeah, if you think that’s creepy then look what I found in here.” She reached around to her left, picking up something flat. It was hard to see in the dim light but it became clear once Tox finally presented it right to him. It was a clear waist up picture of Skylor.  
“Yikes.”  
“Is yikes even enough of a reaction?”  
“Actually, I’m not sure.” He started putting the pieces together. He only had scraps of an answer but at least, now he had a theory. “Sorry, not justifying creeping, I’m just thinking about all the evidence I’ve gathered so far.”  
“Fair.”  
“Hey, have you noticed a weird snake symbol around?”  
“I don’t know about weird necessarily but yes, I saw that symbol all over now that I think about it.”  
“I thought so.”  
“Could that really have something to do with this whole case?  
“Possibly.”  
“Well, jeez, I should have been paying better attention.”  
“Don’t feel bad, you actually gave me an answer I wanted.”  
“Well, happy I could at least help you.”  
“Seriously, don’t be so hard on yourself. You found this place and it could actually really help us!”  
“I guess, man.”  
“Keep searching alright.” Lloyd suddenly whipped his head around, hearing shouting. It was Neuro. “Looks like I have to go, keep looking.”  
“You too, dude.” She encouraged him before Lloyd sprinted towards Neuro’s shouts. They were muffled due to the distance but it was clear that he was saying that he found something.   
“What happened?” The blonde asked as he came to a stop.  
“I found something significant, follow me.” He motioned for him to tag along behind him back into the office. “Maybe it is not significant to this case per say but I feel like it could help”  
“Anything is worth looking at if it could just possibly help this case.” Cole was gone now and Neuro had taken his place as the office monitor.  
“Well, then I suppose that you will want to look at it. I think that this may help the case greatly.”  
“Show me.” He requested as Neuro was picking a short pile of papers. The master of mind handed them over and started giving a brief explanation.  
“Bills and taxes. Large sums of money, however, as you can see, there are multiple locations being paid for and recently.” He pointed to the date which was disturbingly close to today. “None of the sums, though, are large enough to pay for this island. In all it would cost about the same or likely more but it is split over several locations.”  
“Couldn’t that just mean paying for several facilities on this island?”  
“I suppose that could be the case but why would they be listed under several different zip codes?”  
“You’re right, that’s really weird. Actually, can I have them. I kind of want to take them to the trial.”  
“That would be acceptable.” he nodded.  
“Thanks!” The younger quickly shuffled through the papers. “I wonder if-”  
He was interrupted by the end of the investigation, Monokuma calling them all to the lobby like normal.  
“If only we had more time, Lloyd.”  
“Damn it, I know! I totally don’t have enough evidence!”  
“I am sure we can back you up. We have one thing now that we did not have before in the other trials.”  
“And what’s that?”  
“True hope of escape.” Neuro was right. Now they were determined more than ever to escape this hell on earth.  
“Yeah.” He said briefly.  
“Come with me. We must make our way to the trial.”  
“Agreed.” He smiled genuinely for once in weeks, tagging along with Neuro.  
Soon everyone had made it, Lloyd and Neuro being the only two to walk in together, though. Everyone gave each other knowing looks, as if they knew that escape was coming. The green ninja managed to crack a smile again.  
Monokuma appeared, more cheerful than ever.  
“Almost trial time! I’m so excited! I wonder who’ll finally end up winning this tournament. Make sure this was worth the wait, alright?” Nobody responded. He sent them down, everyone remaining silent in the elevator as they did every time. Lloyd spoke up before they landed this time.  
“I believe in you guys, alright?” he got no verbal responses but he did get some nods, smiles, and less slouched stances. The elevator dinged.  
Everyone stepped out and all were surprised when they saw that the trial room looked different. It was fancier and decorated much differently as if it were a display in aposh museum. There was the normal theme of red but now with large golden structures and a ceiling mural.  
“Like it?” Monokuma responded, hopping up on a stool. “Now come on, come on!”  
“You’re joining in?” Asked Cole as he made his way to his spot as did the others.  
“Why not?” He giggled.  
“You better not cause trouble.” Tox threatened.  
“Of course not, this is a trial after all!”  
“Everyone, relax. Remember, Monokuma is the enemy.”  
“Me? The enemy? How rude!”  
“We’ve got this.” Monokuma said nothing that time. Everyone glanced at each other, realizing this may very well be the end. Even if it wasn’t, they had to find out so the class trial began.  
“I want to talk about something Lloyd brought to my attention.” Tox spoke up.  
“You have the floor.” Replied Cole, inviting her to continue speaking.  
“There’s this weird snake symbol everywhere. I don’t think any of you have really noticed before but think about it.”  
“You both are correct.” Neuro chimed in. “The snake symbol seems to appear frequently around the structure.”  
“Exactly!” Lloyd exclaimed confidently.  
“Not to side with the mastermind behind this all here but what does that have to do with anything? It could just be decoration.” Jay added nervously.  
“You’re right but that doesn’t explain one thing.” He took a deep breath. “This is gonna sound like a really weird question but where do people go after they die?”  
“A grave?” Answered a confused Cole.  
“Before that.”  
“A morgue.” Neuro responded, giving the correct answer.  
“Yes, which is exactly where Neuro and I were.”  
“Still not seeing the connection.” Jay squinted, being unsure of what he was trying to say.  
“Well, you’re about to understand in a minute.” He turned to the other man. “Neuro, when we were in the morgue, whose body did you pull out?”  
“Skylors.”   
“And what did we see that surprised both of us.”  
“The tattoo on her shoulder.” He thought for just a second before coming to the realization that the boy was looking for. “And the tattoo was of the exact symbol you are referring to!”  
“Bingo!”  
“So she has a connection to this place?” Inquired Jay but despite now having an answer to his main question, he now had more because of the answer. “But she can’t be the mastermind! Not only is she dead but she was a part of the killing game with us!”  
“Just because she had a connection, it doesn’t mean that she’s the mastermind.”  
“Do you guys remember the fourth trial?”  
“Yeah, the one where Skylor died but what does her death have to do with this?”  
“It’s not the death we should be looking at but the motive, but we will come back to her death.”  
“I remember it clear as day, it was the traitor motive!” Monokuma stated, reviving their memory of it.  
“Yes, and after Zane’s execution Monokuma said something that really has me thinking now.”  
“Oh, was it what I said about the traitor? Yes, the traitor is dead.”  
“But he also said that it could have been during trial four or before. He only gave us that information after.” Jay thought aloud.  
“What if he only added that because he didn’t think the traitor would die?” Lloyd threw in.  
“Are you suggesting that Skylor was the traitor?” Neuro asked.  
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting, Neuro.”  
“She can’t be the traitor, can she? I mean she was so nice.” Jay retorted.  
“She could have easily been just as deceptive and you cannot ignore that.” The master of mind said in return.  
“He’s right, Jay. You’re right to be suspicious, though. I think the rest of the evidence will convince you.” The youngest stated confidently. “But before we move on, I would like to add in one more thing.”  
“Okay, and what would that be?” Questioned Cole.  
“Exactly what we found together. The mastermind had a log book of all of us including our pictures, elemental abilities, and first and last name.”  
“Are you seriously using her last name as a defense? Man, I love you, but come on!”  
“I’m not done yet. Anyways, we flipped to Skylor and we found her last name. Her last name is Chen.”  
“Chen, like the noodle place? Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous.”  
“I thought I was too, but now it’s all coming together just as I hoped it would.” He snapped his head to the blue ninja. “Jay, explain what you discovered in the dining hall.”  
“What I found in the dining hall?” He was kind of surprised that Lloyd asked for him to explain but did so anyways. “I found a lot of weird stuff. Turns out food was never made in that kitchen unless it was made by one of us. I actually found most of the food behind the conveyor belt which sidenote, I swear I’ve seen before. Anyways, the only thing related to our everyday food I found in the kitchen was a pipe for hot water.”  
“And was there any other problem? I can think of one right now, let’s see if you can figure it out too.”  
“Other problems? I mean who can even afford all that food, it pretty much was a surplus that could last for months.”  
“Yes! Exactly!”  
“Clearly someone who can afford multiple facilities as well as this entire island.” Neuro added on, saying exactly what Lloyd was thinking. Though, it wasn’t that shocking considering that he is the master of mind.  
“Yep, and I have the evidence right here!” He dug out sheets of all the bills and taxes.  
“Now you’d think that’s for everything on the island, but why are the bills for different zip codes?”  
“Well, one of those is the central Ninjago zip code and I also see the west Ninjago zip code’  
“And what do those two places have in common?”  
“They’re both in Ninjago?” Tox shrugged confused.   
“Okay, not what I was looking for.”  
“Oh yeah, they both have a Chen’s Noodle House.” Cole pointed out, his appetite helping for once.  
“So my traitor Skylor theory is starting to make sense.”  
“But Skylor wouldn’t be able to afford all that herself! She’s our age!” Jay exclaimed.  
“You’re right but what if it wasn’t her paying but someone related? Keep in mind she’s not the mastermind and we can for sure confirm that since Monokuma’s still here and functioning.” The bear waved with a small giggle after the boy spoke.  
“Wait a second,” It was starting to finally click for Cole. “The invite we got was right behind Chen’s!”  
“Yes!”  
“And that would explain both the amount of food bought but why it tasted familiar!” Jay jumped, it clicked for him too. “That’s where I’ve seen that conveyor belt before!”  
“All the money coming in from all the restaurants across the chain would be able to support a place like this!” Tox yelled. The theory no longer sounded ridiculous, now it made sense.  
“I mean it makes sense but there’s not enough evidence. I mean there is a good amount but it’s all circumstantial.” Cole said with concern.  
“And we haven’t completed a trial before with circumstantial evidence?” Tox asked, tilting her head and furrowing her brows, her arms crossed.  
“I’m just worried because this is our most significant trial yet!”  
“Cole has a point so let’s continue.” Lloyd intervened so no argument would start up. “Tox, you actually found some in the video room.”  
“I did?” She uncrossed her arms and dropped her somewhat tense attitude.  
“Yep, you found something in there which you said was creepy.”  
“Oh yeah, that picture of Skylor.”  
“Mhm, and you assumed the mastermind had that photo for more distasteful reasons. If we’re going with the theory that Skylor is somehow related to the mastermind then that photo would be way less creepy and it would make sense.”  
“You’re right.”  
“I found more evidence but it doesn’t include Skylor. In fact, it technically includes me.”  
“You?” Questioned Jay, taken a bit aback.  
“Yes.”  
“You’re not about to reveal that you’re the mastermind to all of us, right?” Cole squinted suspiciously.  
“What, no!”  
“Just covering all our bases here.”  
“You know, whatever. Anyways, I found this photo in the office.” He pulled up the picture.  
“Woah, isn’t that your dad?”  
“That’s exactly who it is. Now, does anyone recognize anyone else in this photo because I thought I did.”  
“Oh, it’s that guy from the boat, except he doesn’t have a mustache.” Jay said.  
“I thought so too.”  
“Oh, what was his name? Sensei Garmadon would know.”  
“Dad isn’t here but that doesn’t matter. What we know is that they don’t just seem to know each other, they do know each other.”  
“That is significant but I have one inquiry. Who is that man in the middle of the photograph?” Neuro asked.  
“I was just about to talk about him. The thing is that we don’t know but I have another theory which connects to the first.”  
“And what would that be?”  
“That man’s related to Skylor and he’s the man we’re looking for. He’s the mastermind.”  
“What tells you that?” Tox jumped back into the conversation.  
“This may be a stretch but I think it’s our final piece of the puzzle and our key to knowing who the true mastermind is.”  
“Well, spill it then, kid.”  
“His hair, it’s red. Who was the only person here who’s hair was red?”  
“That answer is obvious but anybody could have that same hair color! I’m sorry I’m just worried we’ve been on a wild goose chase.” Cole apologized anxiously.  
“Again, it’s fair to be skeptical but I think this is the truth despite how wild it is.”  
“There is no more evidence to throw onto the table for consideration. I feel it would be in your best interest to wrap up the trial Lloyd. Everyone is concerned but I believe it would be our best decision to finish up.” Neuro rationalized.  
“I agree with you, Neuro.” The boy looked around at everyone. “Would that be okay with everyone else?”  
Despite their fearful skepticism, they soon all agreed, some still more apprehensive than others. Lloyd noticed that they were all ready and looked to Cole, the most fearful.  
“Do it, Lloyd.” He closed his eyes and gave a nod, giving him his true approval.  
“Okay then, I’ll begin.” He inhaled deeply, knowing this would get kind of long winded. “During trial four we were given the motive of a traitor. We had no idea who it was but little did we know, someone among us had a revealing tattoo under their clothes. We weren’t able to conclude this until this current investigation where we found our traitor in the morgue, their tattoo finally becoming visible. The bearer being none other than Skylor. Skylor Chen to be exact as in sharing the last name with the small chain of noodle restaurants. At first that idea seemed far-fetched, however Jay discovered several pounds of food behind a conveyor belt, the same build that he had seen before. To back this up, Neuro ended up finding bills in the office for several zip codes, each having one of the chain restaurants. Meanwhile, in the video room, Tox found a picture of Skylor which she believed was creepy and there for the wrong reasons. However, I also found a photo. A photo of my dad, the mustache man, and man in the middle with red hair, the same red hair that Skylor had. It may seem crazy and dangerous to go with this theory, the theory of some sort of underground conspiracy but I can think of no one else who would be able to support this place than someone with a flourishing business. Isn’t that right… Mister Chen?”  
Everyone pretty much knew it was coming but were still taken aback by the result of Lloyd’s evidence and reasoning. Everyone turned to Monokuma, looking for a response, some nervous that he was just going to punish them there and then if they were wrong. However, he just started ahead before leaning his head down. There was a pause before he jumped back to life, his voice changing significantly. It was now more masuline and had a similar but different intonation.  
“Wow, you really sunk your teeth into this one. I mean I can see why!”  
“D-Does that mean we were correct?” Stuttered Jay. Monokuma suddenly froze, then falling off his stool. Gravity had taken effect once he had seemingly shut off and gone limp, causing him to metallically clank to the floor.  
“Damn it, he was a robot all along. Ugh, why didn’t we think to just destroy him?” Tox hissed.  
“Because that wasn’t the only one I made in case any of you got any ideas” The voice continued though, causing everyone to snap their heads back to the spot where Monokuma once stood. Footsteps came from behind one of the curtains.  
“Quit playing these foolish games, we wish to know if we were correct or not. I personally would like to know if I am about to be executed so I may brace myself.” Neuro growled, growing impatient.   
“You aren’t dead so what do you think?” The voice spat back, a dark figure now visible. Everyone watched as the man stepped into the light.  
“Chen.” Whispered Cole, his voice trailing off. His tone had swiftly shifted to anger. He was older than the image plastered on the front of each restaurant now and definitely dressed much different in his robes.


	14. Inside the Mind of a Master: Hope vs Despair

“Was that too easy?”  
“I don’t understand why, though?”  
“Oh and here comes young Garmadon with the important questions.” he kicked the stool aside, stepping up to the podium.  
“Mister Chen, why? Clearly it wasn’t for money-” Jay was interrupted.  
“That’s Master Chen to you!” He corrected, vocally overpowering the boy.  
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Just stop stalling and tell us why.” Tox growled, already annoyed by this man.  
“Why, you ask? Isn’t it obvious?” He grinned maliciously.  
“Was this some sort of sick revenge against my father?” Lloyd snapped.  
“Revenge against Garmadon? No but who says that wasn’t a bonus?”  
“To sacrifice us to some sort of snake god?” Jay jumped back into the conversation.  
“No! I kind of wish that was the case though, sounds kind of cool.”  
“To get rid of as many elemental masters as humanly possible so you would have nobody to stop you.” Neuro suggested, clearly thinking that was the truth.  
“I guess but then why wouldn’t I just kill you all at once?”  
“Fair point.”  
“Then why? Just spit it out already, god damn it!” Cole barked.  
“Jeez, what a potty mouth. I just thought it would be more fun to guess.”  
“None of us are having fun.” Whispered Tox acidly.  
“Fine, it’s only fair on my end.” He sneered before grabbing for a curtain cord, the one connected to the one hanging behind Monokuma’s original seat. He tugged it hard, causing it to fall and reveal a large mural. Everyone looked it up and down in awe at its size.  
“Who’s that?” Asked Jay, pointing to the girl with pink pigtails, the main subject of this jaw dropping piece.  
The girl was holding a snake and had two barrettes in her hair, each one a side of Monokuma. One white and friendly and the other black and sinister. In The bottom corner just visible from their position was Monokuma himself.  
“I’m so glad you asked, Mr. Walker. That there is my idol, holding my inspiration, Junko Enoshima.”  
“Never heard of her.” Replied Tox with spite.  
“You all probably haven’t but she is the matron of despair.”  
“Despair?” Questioned Lloyd.  
“Glorious despair!” He shouted with a sickly sort of glee. “Yes, I plan to spread despair while summoning my true inspiration, the ancient anacondrai.”  
“You can’t do that!”  
“Oh, but I’ve already started.” He smirked and pointed his finger right at Lloyd. “By spreading it to you! I spread it to all of you!”  
“That’s a lie!” Screamed Cole.  
“Is it? The way you almost gave up so many times, the way you become a deer in headlights whenever someone utters the name Zane or Kai.”  
“Stop that!”  
“Stop, Cole, he wants you to get riled up!” Tox shouted back, being reasonable.  
“Tox is right, he wants us to be upset. We can’t fall into despair!” Lloyd was attempting to encourage them. He had to bring them back to a hopeful state.  
“What’s wrong, Lloyd? Do you want to get out to see if your daddy’s still alive?” Chen teased malevolently. The boy froze, that taunt hitting him hard.  
“They’re all still alive!” Jay cried out, denying his words.  
“Are they?”  
“Enough, your mind games may affect them, however, they will not work on me. If this must become a one on one battle, then so be it.” Neuro hissed.  
“No, Neuro, we’re going to fight beside you!” Stated the blonde, realizing that he was going to have to power through the pain. “What’s your plan? Are you going to take over the world with your snake people and your stupid despair.”  
“How did you know? That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Chen smirked.  
“Then what happens to us? Do you just plan to kill us?” Tox retorted, bringing up a good question.  
“Actually I was just about to get to that.”  
“Get to killing us or-”  
“To what I was going to do! And I thought you were supposed to have hope.”  
“Well tell us your plan then, Noodle man.” Cole insulted, becoming impatient again.  
“Fine, I will. I’m actually going to give you all a choice. Here are your options. You stay here, completely safe when my plan takes off with everything you could ever want or you leave. If you leave then you leave your deceased friends behind and leave with the potential of running into more corpses outside. You’ll all be left defenseless.”  
“We obviously want to leave!”  
“But Cole, what if he isn’t bluffing? He could have easily killed everyone and we wouldn’t be there to do anything.” Jay said.  
“Then we take that chance!” Lloyd intervened. “I love them too but we have to keep going and escape!”  
“But if you stay, you get everything you need and if you’re polite, maybe anything you want.” Chen tried to tempt them again.  
“You know, I think I’ll pass on that offer too.” Commented Tox.  
“Agreed, it is more worth it to take the risk of being alone than to allow you to become a monarch of any sort in this world. Even if we are alone once we leave, we are not truly alone, we have each other.” Neuro roared powerfully, getting the message across with no problem.  
“But Nya, what if she’s-” Jay whimpered.  
“Jay you can’t just stay forever just because of Nya! Cole and I love her too but we can’t just stop! You can’t fall for Chen’s tricks!”  
“No no the boy has a point.” The mastermind said, starting to drill deeper into Jay’s mind. “You’re two team members short. What if you lost a third or more?”  
“So what, that doesn’t mean we can-” Cole attempted to speak.  
“If they’re all dead, you’ll have no allies. Who will be there to help you? I don’t doubt that you’re all strong on your own but you lose half your power without them.”  
“No, you’re wrong!” Screeched Lloyd. All eyes fell on him. “Your mental games mean nothing to me! You’re rotten! You’re nothing but a rotten old man!”  
“Lloyd, remain calm!” Tox tried to get him to see that this is what he wanted.  
“No, because I know something now. I know that I was right, that my father was right!”  
“Right?” Chen put on that nefarious smirk again, pairing it with a raised eyebrow.  
“I know now that my father has always been on top. My father has always been better than you because he doesn’t need mental manipulation to defeat the enemy. He never had needed it.”  
“Your father attempted to guilt trip you into destroying ninjago with him!” The man’s anger was finally starting to come to the surface.  
“Yeah, he did but he never needed to. Yeah, it got to me and yeah, it got me thinking but once he knew I wouldn’t fall for it, he dropped it. My father never needed to manipulate emotions because he knew that he could fight his battles on his own with his own two hands. You forget one thing, though.”  
“Oh? And what would that be?”  
“You’re referring to my father when he was corrupt. I’m sure that you know that’s changed, though. The funny thing is that even as a monster, he never needed to use emotions to fight. He did of course but he never needed to. He’s already powerful but that fact that he doesn’t have to use the same manipulation that you use proves that he’s a stronger man.” Lloyd started to smirk as he made eye contact with the offended mastermind. “It’s funny how the student becomes the master isn’t it?”  
“He was contemplating being my right hand man at one point! You could have easily been on my side too!”  
“But I’m not. Destiny and fate work in mysterious ways. I was meant to be on this side and even if we’re alone when we leave, I won’t be switching any time soon.” That seemed to shatter the man. Chen looked like he was about to snap. Lloyd even prepared to protect himself if he attempted to pounce on him and strangle him to death.  
He seemed enraged for what seemed like less than a minute before a new grin appeared on his face.  
“I see now. I see why I couldn’t break you or even your little friends.”  
“Go ahead and tell me why then.”  
“You may be the element of energy but you also hold another element.”  
“What?” The boy immediately dropped any emotion of passion that he just had before to replace it with pure confusion.  
“I’d say that you’re the element of hope.”  
“I don’t think that’s a real element.” Cole spat.  
“No, but I see what he’s saying.” The blonde replied, also partially addressing Chen.  
“That makes you my equal. Your father is stronger because he was never meant to be my equal, it was meant to be you.”  
“And why is that? Neuro asked, injecting.  
“Because I’m the element of despair! The element of hope would automatically be my equal.  
“You’re a psychopath, that’s what you are.” Tox crossed her arms with a look of disgusted frustration.  
“Maybe but currently, I am the embodiment of despair and young Lloyd garmadon, the embodiment of hope.”  
“Jeez, stop talking like that. You’re freaking me out.” Complained Jay, fear still somewhat audible in his voice.  
“Maybe I am but that doesn’t justify what you did!” Loyd argued.  
“Of course not. My despair hasn’t worked. My plan isn’t justified anymore.”  
“Chen, I loved your restaurants, I loved your food and so did most of ninjago. Why did you do this when you had so much more going for you?”  
“I’ve craved something like this for decades. Junko was the one to show me the way even though she’s no longer here.”  
“Wait, she’s dead?” Cole took a step back.  
“She has been for years now. Her legacy is what led me.”  
“Why even follow a legacy full of despair? You’ll only end up getting hurt. Why do you want to hurt?”  
“Despair worked for her! She became a world leader despite just being a teenage supermodel using her tactics.”  
“That does not mean it would work for you.” Neuro rationalized.  
“Oh, but it has. I had you all wrapped around my finger.”  
“But we never sided with you. You never had us around your finger, you just had us trapped. Your ‘despair’ never worked.” Tox shot back.  
“It worked but in the end it failed.”  
“So you admit that your plan failed.” Jay hissed.  
“Of course.”  
“Huh? What’s with the sudden change? You were just so confident.” Lloyd was surprised by the sudden change in attitude.  
“I can admit failure and be confident, especially when I know what comes next.”  
“What comes next?” Before the boy could question further, the voting screen popped up, a new icon popping up. “What?”  
“Do it, vote. Your decision to leave will be final. You still have time to change your minds.” Everyone thought, glancing to and fro to each other. Nobody had tapped the button yet.  
“No, I don’t think we will.” He pressed down on the vote button.  
“Yeah, we can’t dwell on the negative forever!” Stated Cole as he slammed down on the button.  
“It hurts to think that everyone we know could be dead but Cole’s right!” Added Jay as he threw in his vote.  
“It would be unwise for one not to vote so they may leave and see the outside world again.” Neuro responded wisely, tapping his vote.  
“Honestly, I just want to leave because you’re a huge asshole.” Tox sneered as she nearly broke the screen pressing down. All the screens went black, signifying that everyone’s vote was in.  
The large television screen flicked on, the slot machine visual appearing as it did every time before, this time with a new face. The new face was the one to get picked, it being of Chen confetti appeared then the screen turned off.  
“So, now you’re gonna let us go?” Cole asked, arms crossed in frustration and exhaustion from this whole endeavor.  
“Not yet, did you already forget how a class trial works?” Chen asked, his smile returning.  
“Wait, are you saying there’s gonna be an execution? How would that even work?” Tox inquired in response. A large red button appeared on Chen’s podium.  
“Lots of planning and thinking ahead, my friend.”  
“Wait, what-” Jay was about to ask a question of his own when the mastermind cut him off.  
“Finally, I’ll feel the ultimate form of despair. Oh, the failure only fuels me. I lust for death just like my beautiful inspiration. I failed my plan to spread my despair, so I must experience it all at once.”  
“You don’t have to do this!” Lloyd shouted. He didn’t even mean to say it, the words just fell out of his mouth. He thought for a few seconds before continuing “You don’t have to die! You can leave with us and we’ll get you help!”  
“No, young Garmadon, I want this. I crave this.”  
“Lloyd has a point. You do not have to end your own life and drown yourself in despair. Master Chen, I am willing to forgive you even if none of my allies are.” Neuro attempted to rationalize with the man but there was no use.  
“No, it’s my time to go. Thank you all for such a wonderfully entertaining killing game.” He then let out a laugh like nothing ever heard from a human before. Almost everyone in the trial room was taken aback. He slammed his hand down on the red button.  
The monokuma visual with the hammer slamming down appeared, this time on the TV screen.  
Game over. Master Chen has been found guilty. Time for execution!  
Chen sat on his throne which was once monokuma’s during the previous trials. Several items from each execution popped up. Jacob’s stage, Camille’s forest trees, Paleman’s bags of flour, Zane’s claw hanging from the ceiling, and last, Kai’s fire. There was a pause as the man smiled, seemingly not fearing what was coming next. The final execution, the ultimate execution and the final execution. First he was dropped onto the stage of the first execution, his ears bleeding from the loud pounding. Second, he was dropped into the forest where he was severely scratched up by the hawk that resided. Third, he was covered in flour then shot at, Fourth, he was picked up by the claw and dropped to the bottom. Fifth, the fire licked his clothes and burned him. Finally, he stood in a replication of the lobby, waving happily as a robotic snake came down, It watched for a second, it’s fake tongue flicking out before striking, finally causing Chen to show true terror as it bit into his neck and causing blood to drip and splatter. The screen turned off.  
All of the survivors stood shocked. Lloyd felt guilty as if he could have prevented this but in the end, he couldn’t have.  
“Holy shit.” Whispered Tox, her voice trailing off in a mix of emotions. The elevator suddenly dinged which was strange considering it never dinged when opening to return to the surface, only when they arrived at a destination.  
The door opened and two men ran inside.  
“Dad!” Shouted Lloyd in surprise as his father and Chen’s assistant ran past him and into one of the curtain covering corridors. They ran into the one leading to the main execution room. The boy followed first, everyone hesitantly following after them.  
“Oh my god, Master Chen.” Whispered the boat man, staring at the gore.  
“I’m so sorry, Clouse.” Sensei Garmadon said in an attempt to comfort him. It didn’t appear as much on his face but it was clear that he was rather horrified too.  
“Was he your sensei?” Asked Lloyd softly out of both sympathy and curiosity.  
“At one point. I was his right hand man. I knew he was going to something like this but I never knew it would go this far.” Clouse responded.  
“I’m so sorry.” He felt his throat tighten, he was going to cry if he stayed any longer. Thankfully his father ushered everyone out and to the surface.


	15. Epilogue: Tournament Ends

Everyone was finally able to leave, finally being able to outside and truly bask in the sunlight which was just turning orange.  
“Jay!” Screamed Nya as she ran up to the boy. “You’re okay! Where’s Kai?”  
The blue ninja turned his head to the black as he walked up next to them, his expression becoming sullen.  
“He didn’t make it, I’m sorry.” He broke the news to her. There was a paused before her expressions soured and the tears started coming quickly and heavily.  
“Where’s Zane?” Questioned Dr.Julien distressed. Jay turned to him, now having to be the one to break the news.  
“Zane didn’t make it either. We can attempt to rebuild Zane but we can’t rebuild Kai.” He sniffled. He quickly got a hug from the doctor who had quickly began to sob.  
Meanwhile, Garmadon turned to his son, relieved that he was okay.  
“I’m so grateful you made it out alive.”  
“Me too, dad.”  
“I’m very sorry for your loss, Lloyd.”  
“I lost a lot of friends, dad. I had to escape for them, though. I couldn’t let good people die in vain.”  
“That’s my boy. You’re going to become an amazing leader.”  
“If I’m not forced to be like I was during that whole thing, then I think I will too.”  
“You’re maturing fast.”  
“I had to.”  
“You’re so hopeful, it’s refreshing.”  
“Well, actually, Chen said something about me that really stuck.”  
“Oh? What did he say?”  
“He called me the elemental master of hope.” Garmadon chuckled in response.  
“I was never one to agree with Chen but I think he was right on that one.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Lloyd, you helped your friends through one of the most cruel, tortuous things that I’ve seen in my entire lifetime. You kept them going and I can tell just by the way they follow you. They trust you Lloyd, because you kept them hopeful.  
“Thanks, that actually means a lot.”  
“Don’t thank me for stating the truth, son.” Both smiled.  
Dareth checked on the other two, worried despite not even knowing them. Tox and Neuro seemed completely fine but Dareth still spazzed out, worried sick about the former participants. He looked at Sensei Garmadon and got his attention, having noticed something.  
“Hey, that Clouse guy is standing on the beach all alone.” Garmadon glanced over, mentally confirming his sighting.  
“I see that. Thank you for pointing that out to me, Dareth.” He replied before making his way over to the man. As he walked up to his side, the man began to speak.  
“His plans were my entire life. I was trained to serve him and with him no longer around, I’m nothing.”  
“No, you’re wrong, Clouse. You are still something without Chen. Even as rivals, I couldn't help but admire your fighting skills and your dedication.”  
“I appreciate that sentiment but I don’t have anything to chase after anymore. Serving was my job and the one I served is gone.” Garmadon thought and came up with an idea, a small smile starting to appear on his face.  
“You can keep serving Chen in a different way even though he’s gone.”  
“I don’t know what you could be suggesting but I will not serve you.”  
“No, that’s not at all what I was suggesting! You know, Chen's business no longer has an heir in the family but I’m sure he would have wanted you to continue what he started.”  
“How do I know that I can do it.”  
“Because you’re determined, Clouse. You lived to serve Chen, so why not serve him in a different sense?”  
“I see. I can’t trust that it’ll be for me but I’ll attempt to continue the business.”  
“That’s the spirit. You seem to be the Clouse I once knew again.”  
“Perhaps.”  
Everyone boarded the original ship except to leave the island this time. They would have to return to gather items as well as the deceased but for now, their main goal was to return home and reunite the survivors with their families. Unfortunately they also had to alert the families of the others of the deaths of the other twelve participants who didn’t make it.  
Garmadon gathered with the remaining ninja to break the news to Wu. Wu attempted to hide it but it was still clear that he was distraught over the deaths of two of his students. While relieved that Zane would most likely be fixed, he was still broken over the face that he could not protect him. Kai’s death was the one that really hurt. Kai couldn’t be brought back to life. The elemental master of fire was lost forever, both Kai and his parents who had disappeared years ago.  
A mass funeral was held for those who died in the killing game. The only one excluded was Zane, being in Jay’s workshop for the time being.  
Hundreds gathered to mourn the loss of the young elemental masters. The talented youth were gone now but it had to be accepted that nothing was going to bring them back. Though, many had gathered to celebrate their lives, meaning that they did have an impact on Ninjago, which it could be assumed that it was what they would have wanted.  
One by one, people left the cemetery until only the ninja were left.  
“Lloyd, let’s go, we’ve been here forever. We’re gonna come back and visit Kai, okay?” Cole attempted to comfort the boy.  
“I know, that’s not why I didn’t leave yet.”  
“Then why?” Asked Jay.  
“Can I say one last thing before we leave?”  
“What do you want to say.”  
“Their names.” Neither knew what to say to that but there were no objections so Lloyd continued.  
“Gravis, Jacob, Ash, Chamille, Bolobo, Shade, Paleman, Karloff, Skylor, Zane, Griffin, Kai.”  
“Why did you add Zane? I think he’s gonna be okay.” Cole asked.  
“It just felt right since he suffered too, I guess.”  
“That’s fair. Alright, let’s go home, buddy. Wu and your dad are waiting for us.”  
“Yeah. Bye, Kai.” He waved to the stone, with the inscription of the boy's name, date of birth and death and the engraved inscription of ‘Rest peacefully, red ninja of fire. A hero like you will never be forgotten.’ before tagging along with his two best friends as the clouds began to part and the beginning of sunset shone on them.  
About a week later, Zane was finally up and running again. Jay had worked on him for hours upon hours to get him back in working condition so fast. The blue ninja called in the other boys excitedly once the repaired nindroid sat up again, finally showing some sort of real, physical movement. The other two gathered gleefully.  
The robot looked around with a soft groan before looking at all three of the faces around him. He let out his first words in a while.  
“Where’s Kai?” Everyone’s expressions dropped, eyes looking down at the floor. They were going to have to break the news again and relive the memories. Poor Zane had been killed before Kai was.  
“Gone. Gone, Zane” Lloyd replied. Soon his expression dropped as well. He stood shakily, it having been a while. He managed to steady himself and walk over, hugging everyone tightly. He said nothing. He didn’t even know what to say.  
Things still took weeks to heal. Garmadon still feared for his son, the ninja were forced to get therapy, Tox and Neuro were seen around town less, preferring to stay inside. Wu told Nya about her parents, knowing that he would have to find someone to replace Kai despite him being irreplaceable. Not only was she the elemental master of water, and therefore trained as such, but was also forced to attempt to control her father’s fire powers which was much more difficult than said.  
Tox and Neuro were invited onto Destiny's Bounty, unable to handle living in ninjago knowing that their friends now lived there forever in a different sense than preferred.

It took months to heal and even then, the wounds never fully closed. Lloyd thought about this as he stepped up to the railing, watching as the sun set right in front of him. Neuro spotted and followed. Tox noticed him walking onto the deck and soon everyone was watching with the blonde boy except for the adults.  
“It’s beautiful.” Jay simply commented.  
“I know.” Lloyd replied.  
“You know, they say when an artist dies, they are allowed to paint the sky one more time.” Neuro stated.  
“Heh, I don’t know about that today, man. That sun is pretty powerful. Maybe Kai shoved one of those artists out of the way.” He joked sadly. At first no one laughed, then Lloyd laughed. Soon everyone was chuckling softly until they burst until full laughter as they smiled together, rejoicing happily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an afterword so feel free to ignore it: Thank you for reading, I know this story is long. It took me months of writing especially with my depression and problems focusing related to my anxiety. I really appreciate any support for this story. Thank you once again for making my work something I enjoy continuing.


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